


I Won't Forget

by dontcryMasha



Series: Time Waltz [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angels, Bottom Castiel, Demons, Human Castiel, M/M, More stuff but it won't be tagged cause yeah, Original Character(s), Single Parent Castiel, Time Travel, Top Dean, Torture, Violence, ugly stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-03-31 15:14:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 33,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3982822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontcryMasha/pseuds/dontcryMasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He wanted a child. He prayed for one. But if Castiel Novak had known what the cost would be, he might have taken all of those prayers right back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Deal

* * *

  _June 11 th, 1880_

_Somewhere in Kentucky_

* * *

 

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

A calm evening at a well-known saloon had come to a screeching halt when a woman stepped inside. She was dressed like a cowboy, with her blonde hair in braid dripping out the back of a black hat, spurred boots and a tight leather vest. All chatter amongst the patrons ceased when she entered. Even the pianist had stopped his ragtime.

“Never thought I’d live to see the day.”

The woman spoke in a calm, cool voice as she walked inside the saloon. Most of the guys would have harassed her for wearing men’s clothes, but her demeanor was far too confident for anyone to question. They simply stared in silence as she took heavy steps towards the back, where a redheaded woman sat. She was scrunched up in a bodice with billows of fabric fanning out to make a long, ruffled skirt. Her blue eyes stared at the blonde woman and she stood up.

“Pretending to be a whore, now?” the blonde asked, smirking.

“Yes, but only pretending.”

“You remember the last time I saw you?”

“Of course I do, _Ruby_.”

“Heheh. Clever. Clever girl. Looks like you’re assimilating _real well_ with the humans.”

In the middle of the creepy staleness of the bar, a couple of the men whispered to each other, “She say ‘humans’?” “Coulda sworn she did.” But Ruby shot a glare over to them and they fell silent once more, then she returned to the redhead and continued to smile. The other woman was not impressed.

“I am doing well,” the redhead insisted. “Far better than you, I can see.”

“Better than _me?!_ ” Ruby shouted. She pulled a gun from her belt and held it up in the air. There was a lurch from all of the patrons but nobody dared to move or speak, not even duck below a table. “Look! I’ve learned all their technology! It’s pretty cool. What about you? What have _you_ learned?”

The redhead took bold steps up to Ruby, her heels clacking on the stiff wooden floor followed by a slight shuffle of her skirt.

“I’m learning about emotions. Feelings. Love. Family.”

Ruby’s upper lip twitched. She retracted the gun and shoved it back into her hip holster (the bar goers became a _little_ less tense) and folded her arms.

“What?” the redhead teased, knowing she hit a nerve. “Do you not care about love and family? Or have you been too busy with fear and power?”

“Shut up!” Ruby roared. “Clearly you underestimate my ‘fear and power’! Show me what you’ve got!”

Ruby struck an odd pose; one hand on her hip and the other arm held straight out to the redhead, fingers open but curved. A dark wind whipped up around her and the tables closest to them flew backwards. Several man fell down. The redhead stood her ground and opened both of her arms to the side, sending a bright white ball of energy straight for Ruby. It threw her back all the way to the front door again, which she flew through and stumbled outside. The redhead tossed her hair and relaxed effortlessly.

“What’n the heck?” a tired voice choked out.

“Some kinda black magic!” said another. The bar began to wake up but then Ruby came back in.

“Nice parlor trick, Anna,” she scoffed. “Where’d you learn that? Daddy?”

“He’s an awful lot better than yours,” said Anna, “And around to give me assistance, too!”

“You take that back!” Ruby yelled. “You shut up! Just shut up! I’ve got an ace up my sleeve anyway!”

“Show me, then, _demon_.”

A quiet gasp came from everyone in the bar. Some of them were brave enough to carefully crawl out without being noticed.

“That’s cute,” said Ruby, “But how about this?”

She pulled a blade from her belt. It was rather unusual and perhaps not the most cleverly engineered design—a long, shiny dagger with barely any sort of hilt to speak of. Anna saw it and she held her breath.

“Right? Right?” Ruby gloated. She gestured to the remaining people in the saloon with a grin. “Can I get some applause, here? This was a pretty fantastic find on my part.”

“An archangel blade,” Anna muttered, “That _is_ quite extraordinary of you to find that. But it’s lucky that I have _this_.”

She, too, unsheathed a knife, but this one was wilder looking. It was definitely a dagger with a bone handle and a jagged blade etched with Kurdish. Ruby’s face turned white upon its display.

“ _What?_ ” she asked, gasping.

“What?” Anna returned the question, a thin smile on her bony face.

“How?!”

_“How did you get an archangel blade?”_

Ruby tightened her jaw. “I’ve been getting along with humans!” she said. “B-better than you!”

“An archangel blade is from an archangel, not a human,” Anna verified. “This knife, however, _is_ from humans, so—“

“ENOUGH!!”

A third voice broke up the bickering. It was male, not terribly deep, and came from none other than the piano man. Anna and Ruby turned to him but kept their eyes on each other still.

“ _That’s_ what this is over?!” The piano man laughed. He had a smooth face with a beaky nose, and he happened to be wearing an incredibly fake looking moustache. He pulled it off and a sudden sweeping light flooded the room. Ruby covered her eyes.

“Damn! What a trick!” she cursed.

“Ha ha!” the piano man laughed. “Exactly! Now, Anna, tell me what in the world is going on here?”

Anna kept the dagger firmly in her hands but spoke to the man softly. “Ruby and I have been rivaling each other with our assimilation into humanity.”

At this point, the remaining saloon patrons were torn between running away before they exploded or sticking around the find out what on Earth was happening and who these three people—or creatures—were.

“Stupid,” the man laughed.

“Don’t laugh, Gabriel! You’ve assimilated perfectly well!”

“Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t. But listen, I’ve got a better way for you two ladies to sort this out.”

“Oh?”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “And I’m supposed to trust an angel, now?”

Gabriel smiled. “You want to prove that you’re better than us, right?” The demon nodded. “Okay, then, how’s about this—I give you two hundred years to get along with the hairless apes, then whoever has done a better job will win a fabulous prize.”

“Prize? Of what?” Anna asked.

“Something stupid and heavenly, I bet.”

“No, no, no,” Gabriel continued, looking proud with himself. “The winner will get to _have a child with a human of their choice_.”

Ruby let out a sound of protest. “Idiot!” she followed it with. “We aren’t human! We can’t get pregnant!”

“Um, who are you talking to, honey?” Gabriel sassed.

“Gabriel the archangel,” Ruby said rather bored.

“Gabriel the archangel of _miraculous births!_ I can totally give one of you the power to get knocked up.”

This changed everything. Ruby and Anna looked to each other with some understanding.

“So? What’ll it be?” Gabriel asked.

“I agree,” said Anna, “But two hundred years is long enough for a demon to _cheat_.”

“Hey!”

Regardless of Ruby’s protests, Gabriel had to agree. “One hundred,” he said.

“That isn’t long enough!” Ruby groaned.

“One hundred and fifty,” Anna suggested. She put her demon blade away and smiled.

“One hundred twenty five!” Ruby yelled. Gabriel gave a tired sigh.

“Okay, okay. One twenty five. How’s that, Anna?”

“I agree.”

“Ruby?”

“That was my damned suggestion! ‘Course I agree!”

“Your hands, ladies?”

Gabriel offered his right to Ruby and his left to Anna, both of which were taken and shaken. “Then on this day, one hundred and twenty five years from now, I’ll bring you both together and declare a winner.”

“Deal,” said Ruby.

“It is a deal,” said Anna.

Their handshakes glowed faintly with gold, and Gabriel was suddenly gone in an instant. Anna looked down at her warm palm and saw a tiny date imprinted there. She glanced up at Ruby but the demon had disappeared, too. It appeared that she would have to clean up the mess they made and erase the peoples’ memories all by herself. Perhaps she could earn some points in the big game, since she would have to work pretty hard to beat Ruby before the final day.


	2. The Online Thing

* * *

_October 4 th, 2009_

_Just outside of Charleston, West Virginia_

* * *

 

 

CNovak837: I’m sorry, this just isn’t something I normally do.

Kevinsolo: It’s okay!

CNovak837: Thank you. How old are you again?

Kevinsolo: 23

CNovak837: Does it bother you that I’m ten years older than you?

Kevinsolo: Nope. I actually kinda like it!

CNovak837: I can’t say I “like it”, but I’m open to something different.

Kevinsolo: You top, right?

CNovak837: Oh

CNovak837: No, I’m a bottom.

Kevinsolo: Oops! Gosh, I’m sorry.

CNovak837: You are a bottom too, I’m guessing?

Kevinsolo: Yeah, sorry, sorry! x_x I assumed. My fault.

CNovak837: Don’t worry about it. Thank you, though.

Kevinsolo: GL!

 

“Ugh…”

Cas closed the chat window and sighed heavily. What was he getting himself into, answering online personal ads? That was stupid. He knew better.

Then again, what other choice did he have? You can’t exactly go out and find another man to hook up with that easily. He could go to a gay bar, maybe, but…

“I absolutely won’t meet men in a bar.”

Another sigh and he got up from his desk. He pulled the knot out of his tie and hung it on a hanger in his closet. The day was coming to a close and it was time to move on from silly “physical pursuits.” Besides, he’d have to hire a babysitter if he was going to get a booty call, and what sort of father does _that?_

“PAPAAA!”

“I’ll be right there!”

A tiny voice called from the next room and Cas quickly finished taking off his dress shirt. He slid a tank top on and went across the hall.

“Is something the matter?”

“I’m not _sleepy_.”

A little redheaded girl was sitting up in her toddler bed, arms folded and making a pouting face. Cas came in and crouched so that he was on her level. “Would you like another bedtime story?” he asked.

“ _No_.”

“We’ve already brushed teeth, so you can’t have a snack.”

“I don’t _want one_.”

“What would you like, then?”

The girl fussed a bit. Her face scrunched up and he flopped over onto her side. Cas petted her hair calmly.

“I want to help, but if you don’t tell me what I can do, then I can’t.”

“I want to sleep,” the girl sighed, “But I can’t.”

“Then let’s just _try_ another bedtime story.”

“Okay.”

Cas got up and took his usual chair, the brown one that was always by his daughter’s bed. He turned on her dinosaur lamp and picked up a well-worn green book. The girl stared at her father tiredly.

“‘ _In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit,_ ’” Cas began to read. “‘ _Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort._ ’”

He continued reading to her for about twenty minutes, until he looked over and saw that she had fallen fast asleep. His lips curved into a satisfied smile and he put _The Hobbit_ away, turned the lamp off and kissed his daughter on the forehead.

“Sleep well, Celeste.”

When he returned to his room, the bed looked more inviting than ever. Reading to the girl had him feeling tired, too, so he went beneath the covers and prepared himself for well-deserved sleep.

He lay on his back…

Took a deep breath…

Closed his eyes…

“Me, now?”

He was tired but he couldn’t sleep. Perhaps Celeste had sucked the sandman’s bidding right out of him. This was terribly frustrating, almost as much as the random _boner_ that was now growing between his legs.

“Ah…”

How inappropriate! But it was there now and he had to take care of it. As usual, he reached over to his nightstand and took out a thin vibrator and a small bottle of lubricant. He first toyed with his cock a little, insuring that the boner was steady and his body was ready. Lips pressed firmly together, he wet the vibrator and inserted it. A sigh of relief sounded through his nose. He arched his back into the mattress ever so slightly and let his legs fall to the sides. “That’s it,” he whispered to himself, taking the vibrator deeper. He curved it barely and twisted the base to turn it on. Smooth vibrations rippled through his body and he curled his toes. It had been so long since he felt another man’s touch…

“Oh, GOD!”

A cry flew out, probably louder than it should, right as he shot a burst of cum all over his chest. His breath was harsh and thick as he orgasmed. The vibrator turned off. He released his cock from his hand and let his legs relax straight. Sleep crept over him so quickly that the toy was still inside.

* * *

“Did you have a nice time at daycare?”

“Yeah!”

Cas caught Celeste’s eye in the rear view mirror. She was happily bouncing around in her car seat.

“What did you do?”

“We played with…glitter!”

“Was it fun?”

“Yeah!!”

“I think there’s still some glitter on your hands. It got on papa’s fingers, too.”

“Sorry!”

“That’s all right, Celeste. What matters is that you were having fun.”

“Okay.”

They arrived at their townhouse just a little after six o’clock. Cas got the girl out of the back and they went inside. Celeste didn’t want to take her father’s hand again for fear of getting more glitter on him, so he had to reiterate that it didn’t matter.

And it didn’t.

Cas kept their house clean, but he let Celeste make what sort of mess she wanted. He coddled her a little bit because he absolutely _hated_ that she had to go to daycare. It was the last thing that he wanted, but he had no other choice.

A pleasant evening of dinner and working on the cat puzzle that the neighbors gave them for Christmas ended with another chapter of _The Hobbit_. Celeste fell asleep quickly this time, and Cas decided he would give that online thing another shot.

The personals were mostly terrifying—extreme perverts seeking a tool to live out their wildest, wickedest fantasies with. Cas wasn’t like that. He wasn’t a creep and he certainly didn’t want one, but he had been starved of sex since before Celeste came into his life, and he was currently too busy to find a serious partner.

“Maybe, tonight, instead of replying to an add, I’ll post one,” Cas thought to himself. He wrote up a couple of sentences, checked them over many, many times, then gave up on proofreading and posted it anyway. He still felt dirty for doing this, but he probably wouldn’t rest until he at least attempted. Who knows? Maybe he would find someone worth meeting.

A couple minutes later, the replies began to pour in. Most of them were pre-written spam that went out to every posting, or they simply hadn’t read his ad very well. Granted, he posted in the “no strings attached” section, but that didn’t mean they _all_ had to be perverts, right?

“Hello, I saw your ad. My wife and I would love to—“

“Good evening. Would you enjoy a night of drinking my—“

“Are you a little baby, willing to answer Daddy’s—“

“Hey there. Your ad seemed straight forward. I like that. Online dating isn’t exactly my thing, and to be honest I don’t even know what I’m looking for. Maybe we can chat and see where it leads? Thanks, D.”

“Oh, I like that one,” Cas thought. It was hard to judge anyone good or bad based on one e-mail, but it was worth a shot.

“Hello D,” Cas replied, “Thank you for answering my ad. I think we are in the same boat. My life is so busy lately but I really do need some ‘company’, you could say. How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Cas sent the mail and took a deep breath. There was no harm in one reply, right? Two minutes passed, then an answer came. That was moderately exciting.

“I’m 31. You?”

“34. I was wondering, D, if you used a chat client? I find that to be a more efficient way of communicating.”

It didn’t take long and the mysterious D sent him his messaging info. Cas was very excited by this. He didn’t even know what the man looked like, but getting a promising response was, well, promising!

 

Impala67: Hey, it’s D. Dean, actually.

CNovak837: Ah. All right, Dean.

CNovak837: My name is Cas.

Impala67: Cas? That’s different.

CNovak837: It’s short for Castiel, but I guess that’s just as different.

Impala67: lol yeah. I won’t judge. So what’s up?

CNovak837: I’m nervous about this online dating. I feel a bit dirty, too.

Impala67: I hear you there, man. I’ve picked up my share of hookups in bars, but personal ads? It feels like a new low, huh?

CNovak837: It does! Why are you doing it, then?

Impala67: Dunno. Bored? Tired of bar hookups?

CNovak837: Are you looking for a one night event?

Impala67: I guess.

Impala67: But I dunno for sure. I kind of like the idea of a LTR. Someday.

CNovak837: I understand. I’m on the same page as well.

Impala67: That’s cool, then. At least we both know that we don’t know, huh?

CNovak837: Indeed.

CNovak837: If you don’t mind me asking, you are a top, correct?

Impala67: Yeah.

Impala67: Bottom, right?

CNovak837: Yes.

Impala67: Any chance I could get a pic?

CNovak837: Of…?

Impala67: You, silly.

CNovak837: Just me in general? Is that a safe practice?

Impala67: Up to you. But I ain’t doing the blind date thing.

CNovak837: Agreed. Can I see one of you if I send one of me?

Impala67: Sure.

 

Cas nodded to himself here. He had to take a moment to think of what he was doing. Was it really safe to send pictures to a stranger? Even so, what if Dean didn’t like how Cas looked? Or what if Dean was terribly ugly? How would Cas react? He couldn’t be so rude to write him off, but…

 

CNovak837: Here is me.

 

He attached a picture of himself with that message. It wasn’t the best shot he had, just something a coworker had snapped when he wasn’t looking. In general he wasn’t in situations where pictures were taken.

 

Impala67: WOAH

CNovak837: Is that a good thing?

Impala67: Holy shit! You’re a babe! Woah!!

 

Cas giggled to himself, blushing a bit. That was flattering, but what did _Dean_ look like?

 

CNovak837: Thank you, Dean. I appreciate that.

Impala67: Damn!!

Impala67: This is me, but I don’t think I can compete!

 

Cas opened up the attached file. There was a picture of a dashingly handsome man; brown hair, visibly green eyes and skin dotted with freckles. It only went as low as his shoulders, but from what Cas could see, he was damn hot.

 

CNovak837: Oh, my. You’re very attractive!

Impala67: Haha, I guess so. Here’s another.

 

This one had more of Dean’s body in it. He was wearing a leather jacket, hands in his pockets and leaning up against a motor cycle. It looked like another person had been in the picture originally but they were cropped out.

 

CNovak837: These aren’t fake, right?

Impala67: No way. I’d pick someone else for fake pics.

CNovak837: I see.

CNovak837: Well I’m very impressed. You’re hot. I can’t imagine why you’re online.

Impala67: Could say the same thing to you.

CNovak837: Perhaps we should meet up?

Impala67: “Perhaps” we should.


	3. Family Relic

* * *

_June 11 th, 2005_

_Shepherdstown, West Virginia_

* * *

 

 

“I know this is…silly…but…”

In a little apartment at the foot of his bed, Cas Novak was on bended knee with his hands together in prayer. His eyes were closed and a tiny tear ran out from the lids.

“I want the right man to come into my life…I want a family, so badly…there must be a way to make this work, there simply _must_ be.”

He waited in silence for nearly a minute, knowing that there wouldn’t be an answer but still half expecting one. He took a deep breath and decided to go to bed. Praying wasn’t the right way. He had to get himself out there. There was no way he was the only queer man who wanted a baby.

His thoughts began to run together and time was slipping away. Sleep nearly caught up to him, but a strange noise in his room made him crack right out of it. He sat up in a jolt and looked around. Nothing was out of place. It was probably the neighbors.

“Good,” he thought, yawning, then went back into the pillow’s embrace.

“ _Castiel…_ ”

This time he absolutely heard something! Once more, he sat straight up and looked around. Was he going crazy?

“He…hello?”

“ _Castiel…_ ”

Right when he blinked, a woman appeared at the foot of the bed. He covered his mouth to stop himself from screaming, knowing that she apparated too quickly to be real. He shook his head.

“I’m so sleep depraved, I’m hallucinating!”

“I am no hallucination,” the woman said. She snapped her fingers and the lamp of Cas’ nightstand flicked on. He could see that her bony face was caressed by smooth, red hair, and her wide eyes of blue stared at him with compassion. She was wearing a beautiful white dress that hung off her shoulders, billowed in an unseen wind and cascaded like a waterfall.

“Who—what are you? And why…how?”

The woman stepped closer to Cas and sat down. He felt the weight on his bed but tried not to move. The situation was too strange to question _any_ aspect of it.

“There’s no way of explaining this differently,” the woman said. “I am an angel of the Lord.”

“…an angel?”

“Yes. I heard your prayer.”

“…my prayer?”

“For a child.”

Cas tried to swallow the lump in his throat but it wouldn’t go down. How was this real? It was surely a dream.

“I am here to grant your wish, in a manner of speaking.”

“You’re giving me a child?”

“We will _make_ a child.”

Cas paused. “But I’m queer,” he said. “If I wanted to have a child with a woman…I wouldn’t need to pray…”

The angel shook her head. “No occasion is needed for this. I can simply pull the DNA from you.”

“And…and you’ll…”

“I will be pregnant. I will carry the child inside me and upon completion of my pregnancy in _one year’s time_ , I will return to you with the infant.”

Cas coughed. “I work fulltime. I can’t raise a child on my own…it isn’t possible. It isn’t fair!”

“No matter,” the angel said calmly. She reached out to Cas and put her pale hand on his blanketed leg. He didn’t resist nor did he enjoy it. “I will help you raise her.”

“But,” Cas said once more, “I’m _queer_.”

“We won’t have a physical relationship. I will simply come and go to care for our child when I am needed.”

The man narrowed his eyes. “This is all very strange—and very soon. How can I trust you? How do I know you aren’t a demon?”

The angel took a moment to think, then she stood up once more and opened her arms to the side. There was a flash of light, and suddenly two great, fluffy white wings expanded from her back. Cas had to shield his eyes from the bright light. It was intense but also inviting, almost as if he wanted to charge into it and never let go.

Then they disappeared. The light faded.

“But,” Cas said in a meek voice.

“It’s the light of Heaven, you musn’t follow it,” said the angel. “And if that is not enough proof of my angelhood, then you may have this…”

From a place Cas couldn’t see, the angel presented a dagger. She held it by the rugged blade and offered the handle, carved from an antler, to him. He dare not touch it.

“A knife?”

“A knife that has been forged to kill demons.”

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Cas asked, staring at the angel with a wrinkle of distrust in his forehead.

“You may keep it, in the even that a real demon attacks you. Then you will know that I am certainly not one. You may also attempt to kill me with it.”

“ _Kill you?_ ”

“Thrust the dagger into me. You shall see that it has no effect.”

Cas took a deep breath. He carefully grabbed the handle of the blade and grasped it firmly. The angel presented her body to him and once more suggested that he strike. This was uncomfortable for Cas.

“There is no harm in doing this,” the angel said.

After another moment of hesitating, Cas drove the dagger straight into the angel’s heart. It pressed inside with ease, yet she did not react at all. Cas stared with his eyes wide open. He pulled the knife out and watched as the wound immediately healed. The angel smiled.

“Do you see?” she asked. Cas nodded but was unable to speak. “So then, shall we have this child together?”

“I suppose this sort of thing doesn’t happen to everyone, does it?”

“No.”

“Then I’m in no place to deny you, am I?”

“The decision is yours.”

He nodded. She smiled.

* * *

_October 6 th, 2009_

_The Novak Residence_

* * *

 

 

A black car, old but very well maintained, pulled up in front of the townhouse and turned off. It was late at night and most of the neighborhood was asleep already.

“Oh, God. He’s here.”

Cas looked in the hall mirror and straightened up his hair. He was shaking furiously, nervous about meeting the man but also heavily regretting inviting him over without going someplace else first. There was no way out of it now, though, so he went to the front door and opened it up.

“Cas?”

“Dean…”

He looked just as incredible as his pictures, if not _better_.

“Damn,” said Dean, “You look hot.”

Cas stumbled a little and stepped out to shake Dean’s hand. “Oh, gosh, is this—is this weird? Shaking your hand?”

“Nope. You nervous?”

“V-very. I think, maybe it was a bad idea to invite you over.”

“We don’t have to have sex right away, y’know.”

Cas turned bright red.

“I-I know!” he cried. “But what if you kill me or something?!”

Dean laughed. “What if you have a gun?”

“What if _you_ have a gun?”

“Okay, stop. Let’s just have a good time, okay? I promise I won’t hurt you. Hey, you can even pat me down if it makes you feel better.”

Cas shook his head and forced a laugh. “That’s all right. Come inside.”

“Thanks.”

They went into the house and Cas locked the door. Dean looked around and smiled. “Nice place,” he said.

“Thank you.”

“And we definitely don’t have to have sex—not right now, not today…I don’t want to pressure you into anything.”

“Oh, okay.”

There was a tiny wave of relief in Cas now. He desperately wanted to have Dean make love to him, but now that it was starting to happen, he got cold feet.

“My daughter is here, so…”

“Asleep though, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, that’s cool.”

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Nah, I’m fine.”

“Let’s go into the living room.”

“Sure.”

Cas guided Dean to the sofa and they both sat down. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he kept his hands in his lap and tried to smile. He could feel Dean eating him with his eyes.

“I don’t know how you’re single,” Dean said.

“I could say the same thing to you.”

“Haven’t met the right guy.”

“I agree. But I’m also very busy.”

“I get it.”

Dean leaned back into the sofa and looked up. “So, I gotta ask, and stop me if this is rude but…how’d you get a daughter?”

Cas’ body locked up. He held his breath for a moment then looked at Dean real quick.

“I, um, I wanted one, so…it’s complicated but…her mother isn’t alive anymore and…”

“Stop right there,” Dean interrupted. “I get it. Don’t worry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“You’re fine.”

They said nothing for a moment. Cas felt bad for making things so tense. He wasn’t nearly this awkward at work, why did it have to go this way now?

“Must be hard to be by yourself,” Dean said finally.

“It is,” Cas answered with a quick nod. “Very lonely.”

“Well I’m here now.”

They looked at each other, almost as if scripted to, and Cas decided he would take the plunge—he went right in and kissed Dean on the lips. His mouth was so inviting, so soft…

Dean put his hand on Cas’ cheek and returned the kiss but didn’t let it go on too long. “This what you want?” he asked.

“Yes,” Cas whispered.

The kiss continued, hotter now. Dean was quite the aggressor though still gentle, separating Cas’ lips and teasing his tongue between them. The touch heated Cas up quickly, and he was already sporting a rock hard stiffy. He could only assume the same for Dean.

“You’re a good kisser,” Dean said between smacks. “Very good, very nice lips…”

“You, too,” Cas replied. He smiled and touched his nose against Deans. His hands went to the man’s shoulders and worked down to both biceps, curving around the muscles in a massaging motion. “You also have a wonderful body.”

Dean smirked. “Thanks,” he said, then copied Cas’ touches, “You, too.”

They both shared soft giggles and continued kissing, exploring each other’s bodies with a slow, gentle tenderness. The tease was driving Cas crazy but he also loved every second of it. Just as his hands went down to Dean’s belt, a voice from upstairs interrupted them.

“PAPAAA!”

“Oh! My daughter. Ah, Dean, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s cool.”

“Do you mind?”

“Go right ahead. I’ll wait, or I can go.”

“No, stay, please.”

“PAPAAAA!!!”

“I’m coming! Oh, Dean, I’m sorry. I’ll be right back down.”

Cas left Dean alone and dashed upstairs to Celeste’s room. The girl had apparently heard a visitor and she got worried.

“Everything is fine, honey,” Cas comforted her. “Papa has a new friend over, that’s all. We’re safe and I know.”

“Okay…”

“Don’t worry.”

“Okay…”

“Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Okay…”

When Cas came back downstairs, he saw that Dean had stood up. He was looking at the bookshelves next to the small television.

“I’m sorry about that,” Cas apologized once more.

“Hey, it’s fine. I dated a guy with a little sister once, I get it. No worries, really.”

“All right. Where were we? If you’d like to continue…”

Dean turned around and smiled at Cas. “Making out like teenagers,” he said.

“Right.”

Cas sat down again and Dean went to join him, but his eyes fell to the objects on display at the back wall. He froze in his tracks and stared oddly.

“What’s wrong?” asked Cas.

“The hell is that?”

Dean walked to the wall quickly, lips open in apparently disbelief. Cas got him and went to his side. “What?” he asked.

“This,” Dean said, pointing to a display case. It had Cas’ demon dagger inside it.

“Oh, that’s just—just a family relic, is all.” Dean kept looking at it. He stared for a while, saying nothing. “Dean?”

“No way, man,” he said, shaking his head. Then he looked at Cas with wide eyes. “I’ve seen this thing before.”

“Where?!” Cas asked, now just as surprised as Dean.

“My dad had _dreams_ about it.”


	4. Connections

“No, you _must_ be mistaken. It can’t _possibly_ be the same thing!”

Dean continued to stare at the knife. “It’s it,” he insisted. “There’s Kurdish written on it.”

Cas had his hands over his face. He shook his head, almost in tears from the confusion. Dean looked at him with equal disbelief. “ _Where_ did it come from?” he asked. “This thing drove my dad _to the grave!_ ”

“It’s…it’s…”

“Where did it come from, Cas?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Why did you father dream about it?”

Dean sighed. “Okay,” he said, “Let’s sit down and talk this over. I’m not mad, man.”

Cas nodded slowly and walked back to the sofa. Stunned, he had his hands in his lap and stared at the floor.

“See, my mom and my brother were murdered when I was twelve.”

“Oh, God,” Cas gasped.

“My dad went crazy trying to track down the killer, I mean _crazy_. We had no idea who did it. No leads at all. I had grown up in Kansas, but we left the house and started living on the road, chasing false ideas of who the killer may have been.”

“That’s horrible! Oh, Dean…”

“Dad went…”

Dean paused. He clenched his jaw and diverted his eyes from Cas.

“Dean?”

“Sorry I just—I haven’t really told anybody about this.”

“You don’t have to. We barely know each other, after all.”

“No,” Dean insisted. “This is too weird. I gotta figure it out. My dad died asking these questions, I ain’t gonna let that go.”

“All right, then…what happened?”

Cas brought his hand to Dean’s leg and touched him reassuringly. He tried to look as compassionate as possible.

“We ran out of ideas,” Dean continued painfully, “So dad started going to _psychics_.”

“Ah…”

“One of them brought us to West Virginia. They said we’d find a connection around here. So we started to settle down and look for leads, and that’s when he had the dreams. He would wake up with weird things in his head, talking about piano players and cowboys, I dunno. It was _real_ weird. Then he did drawings. Sometimes hundreds in the morning, and the same things over and over. Two knives; a long, needle-looking one and then that one you have. Exactly. He did thousands of drawings with that knife, I know that’s it.”

Cas took a deep breath. “Weird,” he muttered.

“So then, we had been in West Virginia for a few months and I recently turned eighteen but I wouldn’t leave my dad’s side. We had the drawings but that was basically it. Then, well, one day…” Dean paused again. His eyes looked positively grey. “One day _dad_ was dead. I woke up and he had been stabbed and stabbed a billion times. It was _horrible_. I was fucking _alone_.”

Cas had tears in his eyes. He didn’t know what to say.

“It’s okay,” said Dean. “It’s okay.”

“Did anything else ever happen?” Cas asked in a weak voice.

“Nope. I worked on becoming a mechanic, got a place to live and tried to forget about it all. That obsession ate my dad alive and ultimately killed him. I didn’t want that same fate. If the murderer was gonna kill me, it would happen anyway.”

“I see…”

“ _So_ ,” Dean said, his tone changing now, “I told you my story. Now you tell me how that knife came into your life. Is it really a family relic?”

Cas buckled. “Sort of,” he admitted shyly. “It was…it’s far less believable than your story.”

“Try me.”

“Well, you see…it’s my daughter.”

“Yeah?”

“She’s special, very special.”

Cas took another deep breath and went on to explain how Celeste came to be. He gave every detail, from the prayer to the angel showing up, then how she lived with him and took care of the baby.

“It was a secret that I kept,” he said. “Nobody knew that an angel was here. She was private and calm and excellent with Celeste. I was so grateful, even though the situation was beyond bizarre.”

“Crazy,” said Dean.

“That knife was a gift from her,” Cas explained. “She said it was made to kill demons.”

“No kidding?”

“Yes.”

“So what happened to the angel?”

Cas put a hand to his mouth. He paused momentarily but Dean waited.

“She died.”

“Angels can die?”

“With a certain kind of blade, yes.”

“I’m sorry. Man, a lot of death in our lives, huh?”

“It’s stranger that we happened to meet.”

“Yeah. Like some sort of weird fate…”

Dean smiled ever so slightly, and Cas couldn’t help but follow suit. His hand was still on Dean’s leg and Dean placed his fingers over it.

“The blade that killed Anna (the angel), was…well…it was long and needle-like.”

“No way?” Dean said softly. “You…you think it’s…”

“Do you still have the drawings your dad did?”

“Some, yeah.”

“I’d like to see them. I have a feeling it’s the same as the blade that killed her.”

Dean sat back. They both had to take some time and digest all that had been said. Here were two men that barely knew each other, but they had just exposed their deepest secrets. And yet somehow, they were both connected. What were the odds?

“Do you know who killed Anna?”

“Physically, yes. And also that…also that she was a demon.”

“So then you could’ve killed the demon with that knife, yeah?

Cas nodded sadly. “Yes, but I couldn’t get to it.”

“This might sound crazy,” Dean began, chuckling since there was little else to do, “But d’you suppose the demon that killed Anna also killed my mom and brother? It would explain a lot, but also open a bunch of new questions.”

“It’s possible,” Cas said. His voice was more of a whisper.

“I mean, think about it—You _happened_ to write an ad online, I _happened_ to write back, then we just _happened_ to have chemistry and decided to meet up. You _happened_ to invite me over even though you had anxieties about it, then you just _happened_ to be the holder of a knife that my dad dreamed of. There’s gotta be some weird forces at work! If angels are real, and—and!”

“You’re right,” Cas agreed weakly. “Maybe it is all connected. But what are we to do with it? I have my daughter, who I love, and you don’t want to pursue what made your dad crazy.”

Dean nodded erratically. “I get all of that,” he said, “But look…that demon killed the angel, so why wouldn’t she come back for you or the girl? And, well…it just sounds like maybe it’s time to take action. You know how to kill her, too.”

“All valid points, but perhaps we should think about it. I have a three year old, after all.”

“Maybe we should sleep on it, yeah. Okay. I’ll just uh, go home now. Call me with what you wanna do.”

Cas winced. “Well, Dean,” he said stiffly, “We are still strangers, but…but we have strange things in common. Maybe you should…stay over?”

“I dunno. We _are_ strangers.”

“You don’t have to.”

“And to think this night started out with you terrified of having me over.”

“Things change. But um, maybe you could stay on the sofa.”

Dean nodded. “All right, deal.”

“We’ll figure this out in the morning.”

* * *

_December 22 nd, 2007_

_The Novak Residence_

* * *

 

It was almost two o’clock in the morning, and Cas was in the middle of a deep slumber when Anna’s voice woke him up.

“Castiel, Castiel,” she said.

Cas opened his eyes and saw the angel standing right by his bed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I’m sleeping, I don’t need your help at the moment,” he said.

“I’m not here for helping,” said Anna. She looked slightly panicked. “I’m being tracked.”

“Tracked? By who?”

“A demon. Where is the blade?”

Cas stumbled out of bed. “Downstairs,” he said, “Where it always is. You know that.”

In a tired stupor, he made it down the stairs and to the living room. Anna followed closely behind him.

“Why is there a demon tracking you? Will Celeste be all right?”

“I’m sure,” Anna said. “But we have to kill the demon. She’s angry.”

“I don’t understand…”

They went into the living room and Cas took the demon knife down from the wall. He handed it to Anna.

“The demon is after me for a complicated issue. It’s difficult to explain quickly.”

“What about Celeste?”

“I’m not sure. It is possible that she will want her, so we must make sure that the demon is killed.”

“This is moving too fast,” Cas groaned. He was still terribly sleepy, but his worry about Celeste was forcing him awake. “I’m going to go keep an eye on the baby.”

“Yes.”

Cas managed to go back upstairs and into Celeste’s room. He stood by her crib and watched her sleeping peacefully, wondering if Anna could handle whatever was in store with the demon. But what could he possibly do to assist?

“NO!”

Anna’s voice screamed from downstairs. Cas freaked. Instinctively, he took Celeste up in his arms and ran back downstairs. He didn’t know what to do. Leaving the baby alone could have been more dangerous than taking her with him.

Downstairs, a blonde woman had come in through the front door and was pointing a long, silver blade right at Anna. The angel didn’t have the demon knife. It was nowhere to be seen. Cas hid at the top of the stairs and watched, paralyzed by fear.

“I knew you were going to win,” said the blonde woman. “I gave up years ago, but what you did…”

“This doesn’t have to end this way,” Anna said, her voice weakened by fear. “We can find Gabriel. He can settle this. I’m sure he’ll agree to make you pregnant, too.”

“No way,” the blonde answered. She stepped closer to Anna now, the tip of the blade hardly more than a few inches away from her. “Not after what you’ve done, and what I’ve done!!”

“What _you’ve_ done? You don’t have to do it. This can be avoided!”

“I don’t mean killing _you_. I mean killing _them_. And it doesn’t matter, soooo…”

With one thrust, the blade pierced Anna’s flash. Cas flinched. He felt sick to his stomach but he also couldn’t look away. Unlike the time he had stabbed Anna with the demon blade, this silver one made her whole body light up. A bright blue energy burst from her and in an instant, Anna’s body collapsed onto the floor, leaving the blonde woman alone in the hallway. She looked down at Anna and muttered, “Good,” before walking right back out the front door.

Once he was certain she was gone, Cas came running down the stairs with Celeste still in his arms.

“No, no!” he cried out, feeling Anna for any sign of life. She was most certainly dead, and Cas was most certainly helpless.

As he sat there cradling Celeste and staring at Anna’s corpse, the body began to fade away.

“Huh?!”

Her flesh dissipated and left only her white dress. Only her dress and _apparently_ the demon knife. Cas found it beneath the dress and wondered why Anna hadn’t used it. He wondered why the demon came to kill her, why she didn’t bother looking for Cas or Celeste, and what Anna possibly could have meant by finding Gabriel to “make her pregnant, too.”


	5. Calling Cards

“Dean? _Dean?_ ”

“Uhh…”

Of course, neither of the men slept very well. The coincidences mixed with everything happening so suddenly did not create a fond brew to sleep off. But when morning came, work would inevitably start, so Cas did Dean the favor of waking him before the house got too noisy.

“It’s almost eight. When do you go into work?”

Dean turned over on the sofa and grunted, “Nine.”

“All right. I’m going to brew some coffee and Celeste says she would like to meet you.”

“Oh… _oh!_ ”

Dean perked up as best as he could. He tossed the embroidered blanket off of him and tried to stand. He had slept in his clothes and they were now wrinkled, hot, and stuck to his tired body. It was most unpleasant.

“I guess it’s not as creepy as it would’ve been,” Dean remarked.

“Yes.”

Not too long after, a little three year old girl came bounding down the stairs. She had a little head of red hair and wore denim overalls.

“Mr. Dean?” She asked in a tiny voice, staring at the guest.

“Hey. You’re Celeste, huh?”

“Yeah!”

“Nice to meet ya!”

Dean stuck his giant hand out to her but Celeste looked at it with concern. Cas passed now and told her to shake it. That still didn’t make much sense so Dean let it go.

“You go to daycare too, Mr. Dean?”

“Hah. Sorta. I’ve got a job, just like your dad.”

“Oh.”

Cas called for the girl to come into the kitchen. After she left, Dean went to wash up as best as he could in the bathroom, and then he joined them both for breakfast. Cas poured Dean a cup of coffee and helped Celeste with a bowl of oatmeal.

“Did you think about anything last night?” Dean asked.

“Some,” said Cas. “I have a few ideas of what to do next, but they all involve research on the computer. I think I’ll do that when I have downtime at work, then I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

“Okay, that’s fair.”

“What is your last name?”

“Winchester,” said Dean.

“Thank you.”

“Sure.”

Cas sighed softly. “It’s still…very odd,” he said, “How we came into each other’s lives so suddenly, but it seems we’ll be that way for a while.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Dean said, nodding before he took a sip of hot coffee.

“We might as well make the most of it and get to know one another properly, hm?”

“Uh huh.”

Cas sat down and had some toast, looking at Dean from across the table. Dean had mixed feelings now; one part of him still wanted to fuck the shit out of Cas, but the other part really, truly respected him. And perhaps there was also a tiny desire to pursue a meaningful relationship.

“No matter,” said Cas. “We’ve got to get going. I drop Celeste off on my way to the office and I’ve got to make it in no later than nine.”

“All right, I’ll head out, too. Thanks for the coffee.”

“Certainly.”

Cas scooped up the dishes quickly, then grabbed Celeste and started putting little blue Maryjanes on her feet. Dean was still a bit tired and out of it, but he did his best to get going and not interrupt Cas’ busy morning.

“I am on edge, though,” Cas admitted as they left the townhouse.

“Don’t blame you. It’s been years and years since I thought about my family’s murder, but for you, it happened so recently…”

“Exactly. I’m even worried to leave Celeste at daycare. What if the demon shows up? Nobody would be able to stop her.”

Dean put his hand on Cas’ shoulder and patted him reassuringly. Cas leaned into the touch. His heavily hooded eyes flicked up to Dean with the saddest look twinkling in them.

“It’s gonna be okay, Cas,” Dean promised. “But I think the faster we act, the better. Let me know if you find anything today and we’ll go from there.”

“Yes…yes, exactly. Thank you, Dean.”

* * *

“I appreciate you coming back over.”

Eight o’clock, and the old car was parked in front of the Novak residence once more. A light was on upstairs and Cas was getting Celeste ready for bed. Dean stood close by.

“Did you find anything?”

“I did, actually.”

They moved into the bathroom and Cas set the girl up to brush her teeth. Dean followed and waited in the threshold.

“I was looking up any information pertaining to your family’s murder,” said Cas.

“Figured.”

“Did you know that a _second_ family of Winchesters was killed, just two days earlier?”

Dean paused.

“What?”

Cas dashed out of the bathroom and went downstairs to pick up some printer pages. Celeste was staring at Dean in the vanity mirror.

“You okay, kiddo?” Dean asked.

“Papa is strange today,” said the girl. Dean stepped further into the bathroom and leaned down to Celeste’s height, which was quite low even with her on a stepstool.

“Papa’s gonna be all right. He’s just a little, uh, _busy_.”

“Am I okay?”

“’Course you are. Papa’s here, and I’m here, and we’re gonna take good care of you.”

Celeste took a second to chew that over. She dropped her toothbrush into the sink and asked, “Are you my mama?”

Dean couldn’t help but laugh, despite the initial sadness of Celeste wanting her mother back. He shook his head and handed her the toothbrush back. “No, I’m not,” he said. “And you ain’t done with this. A couple more circles up top.”

“Okay.”

She took the toothbrush back and kept brushing, then spit, rinsed and gave a big smile to Dean.

“Perfect!” the man said.

“Thank you!”

They turned around to find Cas, but Cas was standing right there in the hallway. He was holding a couple of papers in his hands and smiling at Dean.

“You’re good with her,” he said.

“Up until he died, I helped out with my brother a lot.”

“She likes you, too.”

“Well, I like her.”

Cas smiled bigger, then he guided Celeste back to her bed and handed the papers to Dean. “I’ve got to read to her a little bit, but you can look these over in the meantime.”

“Sure thing.”

Dean took the papers and went into Cas’ room. He sat down on the bed and read each one briefly. They were newspaper articles that had been transcribed onto websites. The first two were about Dean’s family, published the day after it happened. Most of the facts were spot on, stating that no suspect had yet been found and the stab wounds were small and round. The second one was off in that it said they had been shot.

The third article was a follow-up story from two weeks after the murder. It was from a local paper and basically reiterated the known facts, then claimed that they still had no leads on a suspect. It gave a hotline and asked anyone with information to come forward. Dean knew for a fact that nobody ever called in.

Then, just as Cas had said, the fourth article mentioned a different murder. It was a family bearing the same last name but lived in Ohio. Four people had been killed; both parents, a daughter and the grandmother. It happened two days before Dean lost his family members, and the facts were nearly the same—multiple small, round stab wounds, instantly dead, no possible lead on a suspect.

“What do you think?”

Cas returned now. He looked exhausted.

“Weird stuff,” said Dean.

“Are you related?”

“Winchester isn’t that common of a name, so it’s popular. But I’ve never heard of these people.”

“I’m rather surprised that your father never came across this case.”

“ _Well_ ,” Dean began with an almost-comical sigh, “Dad’s hunt was real, uh, _emotion_ based, to put it lightly. And it maybe didn’t help that he had a slight alcohol problem that skewed his perception…and it _maybe_ is an exaggeration to say slight.”

“Oh,” Cas said softly. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Water under the bridge now.”

“I see. So…so I have that, but I’m not sure what to do with it.”

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to try and research that second murder more. Er, first murder, technically. I could run out to Ohio and check records, even. I bet there’s _something_ out there.”

Cas held his breath and made a tiny sound of protest.

“What?” asked Dean.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Cas admitted.

“What? Why? I’m gonna help.”

Cas put his hand out onto Dean’s arm and squeezed desperately. Dean’s eyes softened.

“I’m worried about you, and me, and my daughter.”

“I know, I am, too. That’s why we gotta take action. Quickly.”

“But I don’t want us to be separated. As long as we three are together, we have a better chance of _not_ dying and _not_ getting lost.”

Dean gave a slow nod. “Yeah,” he agreed, “You’re right. But how are we gonna look into this case with you working and the girl in daycare?”

Reluctantly, Cas said, “I’ll have to take a sudden vacation. For family. And Celeste will have to come with us.”

* * *

_March 19 th, 1990_

_Mac’s Roadhouse_

_Near Little Rock, Arkansas_

* * *

 

It was late, very late, and most of the customers had hit the road and found a room to buckle down into. The bar had been closed for an hour already, but two people remained—a blonde woman, covering her face with a black cowboy hat, and a middle aged man who wore a fine suit. He nursed a snifter of brandy and spoke to the woman in a cool, British accent.

“It was a mistake to have accepted the deal,” he said. “Believe me, I know deals, and that one was terrible.”

“Heat of the moment,” the woman grouched. She grabbed the bottle of beer she was drinking and took a big, sloppy swig. The man chuckled softly to himself.

“Why would you even _want_ a human child? Humanity is…humanity is worthless.”

“Yeah, I know that. The angels thought I wanted one to take care of and make good with. Heheh. Tricked them, though.”

“But you aren’t going to win the bet. Why would you pull such a trick? You think you’re clever, but darling, you are anything but.”

“Shut up,” the woman growled. She slammed her beer back on the counter. “I’ll show you. Yeah, that’s right. I don’t need to win the deal to get my point across!”

She stood up now and readjusted her hat, but the man was unimpressed. He simply eyed her once then went back to his drink.

“I’ll show you,” the woman continued. “I’ll show all of you.”

“And _what--_ in Lucifer’s terrible name--do you exactly intend to do?”

She smiled.

“I’m gonna show Anna what I’m really capable of.”

With a flick of her wrist, she pulled an angel blade from her jacket and let it sparkle in the bar lights. Her male guest was still unimpressed.

“By killing her? Oldest trick in the book, love.”

“Not her, not yet. No way.”

“Then?”

“I’ll kill someone…someone to make a point. Oh, Crowley, help me out with this.”

“Why?”

“Because we’ve been close associates for a long time. Do you remember when I got you those deals in the 70s?”

Crowley nodded very slowly. “Yes, I do, but—“

“Just help me.”

“Ahh.”

The woman took the blade and held it to Crowley’s throat. “I just need to make a call,” she said.

“Not—on—my—new—suit!”

“Ugh, fine.”

“Here, Ruby, _I_ will make the call.”

Ruby sighed.

Looking pleased with himself, Crowley got up from his barstool, still carrying his snifter and left, motioning for Ruby to follow. They went into the parking lot. It was eerily quiet.

“Fine, Crowley, do what you gotta.”

Crowley took a thin blade from the inside of his suit jacket and pulled Ruby close to him by her collar. He slashed at her throat and caught the blood in his wide glass. Ruby grunted only in annoyance and not pain.

“There we are,” said Crowley. Once the glass was full, he let go of Ruby, put his blade away and snapped his fingers, instantly healing the wound. Ruby wasn’t pleased. But Crowley ignored all of this and put his hand over the glass. He closed his eyes and began muttering dark words in a strange tongue. After he made the initial “call”, his speaking turned into a conversation though the other half could not be heard. Ruby waited impatiently with her arms folded. Then Crowley was done. He drank the blood for good measure.

“I wanted to make the call,” Ruby groaned.

“But I’m on better terms with our daddy,” Crowley said with a boastful smirk.

“Exactly! I need to earn brownie points where I can!”

“Not tonight, sweetheart. But it hardly matters, because I’ve been given a name that can help you out.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Indeed. Winchester.”


	6. Messengers of God

“Okay, I get that it’s about safety, but do we really have to be in a _Corolla_?”

“I have to put my daughter first. Everything we’re doing right now is about her wellbeing. I’m sorry if it’s not what you’d like.”

“No, no, it’s fine, I just…ahh, don’t worry about it.”

Cas quickly looked over at Dean and sighed. “All right, then.”

“We’re almost here anyway.”

They had been on the road for many hours and had just arrived in the Ohio city where the first Winchesters were murdered. They agreed that the best way to start their investigation would be by checking out the house itself.

“403 Leaf Street, this looks like it.”

Cas nodded. “Yes. It appears to be the original house, too. But we can’t just ask the occupants about the murder.”

“Yeah, that’s right…”

“What do we do, then?”

Dean rested his chin in his palm and thought for a moment. Maybe they should have started someplace else?

“I guess we aren’t that great at planning, huh?” he mused. But Cas didn’t answer, since he had realized that Celeste was unusually quiet.

“Celeste?”

“Bwuh…”

The child was shivering in her car seat. Dean looked back and asked her what was wrong.

“I’m c-cold.”

“But the heat is running, sweetie,” said Cas.

“I’m c-c-cold…”

Dean and Cas exchanged a look. “Weird,” they both said.

“She hardly ever gets that cold.”

“Well, uh,” Dean began in a quiet voice, “You said her mom was an angel, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then she’s half angel, right?”

Cas narrowed his eyes. “I would…assume? Possibly?”

“Maybe she’s picking up on some angel stuff. Let’s take her out of the car and see what she does.”

“I suppose?”

Dean didn’t give Cas much of an option. He got out and motioned for Cas to do the same. Then, after a quick chat, the three went up to 403’s door and knocked. A middle aged woman answered.

“Um, hello? Can I help you?”

“Hey,” Dean stammered, “We’re uh, well, we’re lost and the kid here really has to go to the bathroom. Any chance you could help us out?”

The woman blinked.

“Um, I guess so? Come right in.”

“Thanks a bunch,” said Dean.

“Thank you,” said Cas. Celeste was quiet. He followed the homeowner’s directions and took Celeste to the bathroom, leaving Dean alone with the woman.

“Nice looking family,” she said.

“Yeah,” Dean agreed, but then he flinched and said, “Uh, thanks!”

“Surrogate mother?” Dean stared at her. She shook her head. “Sorry, I shouldn’t pry!”

“Nah, that’s okay. So uh, this is a nice house you got.”

“Do you think so? We just moved in last month.”

“Oh, yeah? Well it looks great. I like it. A lot! It’s pretty old though, huh?”

“Hmm, not terribly so, no, I don’t believe. It was built in the 80s.” There was a quiver to her voice.

“Gotcha. Cool.”

Dean put his hands in his pockets and walked around a little bit, looking at the interior and wondering where it all happened. He felt a chill run down his spine.

“Something the matter, sir?” the woman asked.

“Huh?”

Dean turned and saw that the woman was staring at him with great, worried eyes.

“It looks like you’ve just seen a— _ghost_.”

“No, not at all,” Dean said quickly. He wrinkled his brow. It appeared more as if the woman had seen a specter. “Uh, why d’you ask?”

“Just looked strange!!” She replied in a very fast and suspicious voice.

“Ma’am, are you all right?”

“Fine,” she insisted, shaking her head. “I’m just fine. Thank you.”

Cas returned with Celeste now. They, too, looked white in the face. Dean’s mouth fell open.

“UHH, you two okay?”

Cas pressed his lips together and shook his head, but before he could say anything, the homeowner flung her arms up above her head and yelled, “YOU’RE PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS, AREN’T YOU?!?!”

“ _What?_ ” Dean asked. Cas said nothing.

“Oh, God! I knew it, I knew it! This stupid house—this stupid house is cursed!!”

“Calm down, lady. We aren’t exactly paranormal investigators.”

“Then why!! Why are you here?! Why are you feeling the _vibes_?”

Cas interjected himself here. “Vibes?” he asked.

“Okay, okay, deep breath,” Dean said, attempting to calm her down. The woman had worked herself up into a frenzy. “How about we take a seat and talk this over?”

“Right, right, right,” the woman said. She tried to follow Dean’s directions, hyperventilating slightly but taking a seat regardless. Cas and Celeste joined them.

“I won’t lie,” said Dean, “We’re here because of the murders.”

The woman winced as if his words physically hurt her. “I knew it,” she whispered.

“We are trying to collect information,” said Cas. “What do you know?”

“Nothing,” said the woman. “I know nothing about the murders except that they happened here. Four people. That’s all. I just moved in, and—and—“

“And?” Dean asked, as calm as possible. The woman began to tear up.

“And the house feels like death! I constantly sense someone _watching_ me. There’s a, there’s a woman that I’ve seen walking around the house!!”

Cas looked at Dean. He swallowed stiffly, unsure of how to respond, but Dean appeared to have more experience with these kinds of discussions.

“A woman?” Dean asked. “What does she look like?”

“I don’t see her very well,” the lady sobbed. “She’ll be in a mirror, or, or just a blur of color will whip by my face.”

“What color?”

“Red, she has red hair.”

Cas froze. “Oh, my,” he said to himself in a tiny voice. Celeste looked up at him.

The woman had little else to say. Dean and Cas’ presence had her very upset, so they decided to kick themselves out once they got what they could.

“Red hair,” Cas said, back in the car now. Celeste was still quiet. “Anna had red hair.”

“D’you suppose Anna’s ghost is stuck in the house?”

“But how?”

“Dunno.”

“Do angels have ghosts? They practically _are_ ghosts. And even so, Anna died at my house and she was most attached to me. Why on Earth would she be haunting this house?”

“Well, we don’t know the connection between all the Winchesters and Anna, if any.”

Cas nodded. “That’s true. So…what next?”

“Maybe we should find a place to rest for the night.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

* * *

They found a motel not too far away. Dean slept in one bed while Cas and Celeste had the other. If the girl hadn’t been there, perhaps Dean would have been in the same bed as Cas. It was clear by now that they both still had those initial feelings from the personal ad, but with the seriousness of life around them, it wasn’t quite practical to follow through. So they swallowed their emotions and went on with the “case.”

Around four am, while everyone was asleep, Cas found himself waking up for no good reason. He turned over, made sure Celeste was all right, peeped an eye over at Dean and—

“Wut wazzat…”

Cas muttered to himself. He could have sworn he saw something move. Blinking hard, he sat up and looked around. Everything was dark and only Dean’s snoring could be hear. But then, a red blur…

“…A…Anna?”

Did a wisp of red hair zoom by his face?

He picked up Celeste, still asleep, and got out of bed. Once more, a blurry line of red flickered in the corner of his eyes, near the door to the bathroom.

“ _Anna?_ ” Cas whispered. He held Celeste tight and walked towards the door. There was no vocal reply, but a tiny _rubbing_ sound could be heard. It was similar to wet fingers on glass. Wet fingers on glass?

He stepped inside the bathroom and looked around. There was nothing. Again, he asked for Anna but there was no reply. It was strange, but he was too tired to pursue it. Cas took Celeste back to bed and fell asleep once more.

In the morning, Dean was up first. The sound of the toilet flushing startled Cas awake.

“Aah!”

“You okay?” Dean called from the bathroom. The faucet turned on.

“Y-yes! I…I had trouble sleeping last night. I thought, maybe, I saw—“

“Yo, Cas?

“What?”

“Uhh, come here for a sec?”

“What is it?”

Cas got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Trying to ignore Dean in his underwear, he directed his attention to the mirror, which Dean was pointing at. The heat from the tap had fogged up the mirror, but something had been written into it.

“Could be anything, I guess,” said Dean. Cas interrupted.

“No, it’s not. It’s relevant, I know it! This is a sign. Anna gave it to me!”

“Anna did?”

“Yes! I had trouble sleeping, as I said, because I thought I saw Anna. It was just as that woman described—a flicker of red hair whooshing in and out of my vision!”

“No way?”

“Yes way!” Cas was torn between horrified and excited. “I called out to her but the only possible response I got was the sound of _wet fingers on glass_. She must have been writing that!”

“But what’s it even mean?”

Cas smiled. “We’ll just have to do what it says and we’ll find out! She has got to know something that we don’t. She’s an angel ghost, after all.”

“Yeah, good point,” Dean agreed. “Let’s get dressed and figure it out.”

“I’ll write it down just so we don’t forget.”

“Sweet deal.”

Cas went to his luggage and got a pad of paper that he had been taking relevant notes with. He returned to the bathroom, looked at the mirror and wrote down, “ASK BOBBY SINGER.”


	7. Transcendence

 

“There are a billion Bobby Singers in America. How the hell are we gonna know which is the right one?”

“Maybe we need to ask all of them.”

Dean had borrowed a phone book from the motel lobby and was going through SINGER while Cas played with Celeste. The girl had been unusually calm since the incident at Leaf Street but she was getting on with her father all right. They were on the bed and she amused herself with a coloring book.

“We can’t call everyone. There’re dozens. And even if, what are we supposed to say? ‘A dead angel told us to ask Bobby Singer. Are you that Bobby Singer?’ We’ll sound crazy.”

Cas stared at the wall pensively. He absentmindedly took a crayon that Celeste offered but did nothing with it. “We could think on it.”

“Got no other choice,” said Dean. He closed the phone book and pushed it aside.

“No, but, maybe we should head home and rest for a while. Celeste is worn out from the traveling anyway.”

“I thought you were so worried about being at home? Being an easy target?”

“I was, and I am—however, knowing that Anna is watching over us to a certain degree _has_ decreased my worry. Significantly so. I think we ought to head back and wait until we know what to do.”

Dean agreed and they were back on the road in no time. By nightfall, Cas’ Corolla had returned to the Novak residence and Celeste was in her own bed. Cas insisted that Dean stay the night again.

“Are you happy to be home?” he asked Celeste as he tucked her in.

“Yeah.” She was so sleepy.

“Would you like a story?”

“No.”

“Do you want to sleep now?”

“Yeah.”

“All right, darling. Papa will leave you alone so you can sleep. We’re so happy to be back.”

Celeste’s eyes were tired, yet they remained open and fixed on Cas. “Papa scared?” she asked softly.

“No, of course not. There’s no reason to be scared.” Cas had to swallow the frightening reality to reassure his toddler. He ran his palm over the top of her head and went in for a kiss. “Papa and Dean are taking care of everything and we’ll be _fine_. There is no reason to be scared.”

“Okay.”

“Good night, Celeste.”

“Good night, Papa.”

Cas turned off the dinosaur lamp and left with the door slightly ajar. He then went downstairs to see how Dean was doing.

“Celeste okay?” the green eyed man asked from the sofa. He was taking his flannel shirt off so that only a black tee remained. Cas stood at the top of the stairs.

“Yes, she’s fine. But, um, Dean?”

“Huh?”

Dean turned to look up at Cas.

“You don’t have to sleep on the sofa.”

“Oh, so—“

“Yes. You can stay in my room.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

Dean shrugged to himself and joined Cas upstairs. He had been in the bedroom a few times, noting how simple it was, but this was the first occasion where he was going to stay.

“I think it’s best if we’re in the same room at night,” Cas explained as he unbuttoned his shirt. Dean went to the bed and pulled down the covers, trying to avoid watching Cas.

“Makes sense.”

Cas dropped his pants to the floor. All he had on now was a pair of snug black boxer briefs. He got beneath the covers and sat up, looking at Dean gently. “You don’t have to keep your day clothes on,” he said.

“Right.”

Dean quickly got out of his jeans, folded them over Cas’ desk chair and joined him in the bed. They were mere inches apart but Dean hesitated to touch him. He pulled off his t-shirt and dropped it on the floor. Obviously Cas wanted to look at his lovely body, but he avoided anything but eye contact.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing,” Cas muttered. He folded his hands together and looked in Dean’s general direction. “I know that we’re in the same struggle, but you didn’t have to befriend Celeste. Or myself.”

“Sure I did,” said Dean. “Just because we started out as a possible hook up doesn’t mean we have to keep it casual. I have no one and you only have Celeste. Maybe you two give me a reason to keep fighting.”

Cas smiled. “I like that,” he said. “I appreciate it, too.” Then a chuckle came and his eyes fell away from Dean. “I forget that we were just going to be a booty call.”

Dean joined him in humble, shy giggles. “Yeah,” he added.

“Do you still,” Cas began with a hesitating flicker of embarrassment, “Feel that way?”

“ _I do_ ,” Dean answered quickly. He snuck a peek at Cas for a second, only to check the expression on his face. They were both blushing.

“You’re becoming like another father to Celeste,” Cas admitted.

“She’s a good kid.”

“But you…”

Cas’ voice faded. He leaned in closer to Dean, guided only by the light of his reading lamp, and Dean turned to meet his lips in a kiss. They had obviously kissed before, but it was only on that first night before their lives were turned upside down. It felt differently now. There was lust but also pain, a desire to be physical yet also share tender intimacy.

“Cas…”

Dean took Cas’ cheek in his palm and held him softly as they kissed again, only the sound of their lips touching could be heard. Cas closed his eyes and leaned into Dean to form an embrace. “This is confusing,” he admitted.

“What is?” asked Dean. “You do know you’re gay, right?”

“Not that. Everything else. I was so convinced that the angel mess would be gone after Anna died. Those two years that she was a part of my life were foggy, hazy…as if I had dreamed them. I had such a hard time believing it was true. Celeste was the only concrete proof.”

Dean touched their foreheads together and used his other arm to pull Cas closer. “You aren’t gonna lose Celeste, okay?”

“I know.”

“You aren’t going anywhere, I’m not going anywhere. It might take us some time, but we’ll sort it out and make sure we’re safe.”

“ _Dean…_ ”

Their movements that followed made their bodies seem more like water than flesh. They melted together without a single word of explanation, just embraces and caresses. Dean toppled Cas in the gentlest way imaginable, pressing him back into the fluffy pillows yet still kissing him deeply. Twin erections fought to break out of their underwear, which Cas was more than happy to assist with.

Now both naked, Cas’ legs slipped around Dean’s waist and his arms around his neck, holding the strong back close to his chest. Their lips finally parted and they both gasped for a proper breath.

“I want you to take me,” Cas moaned, giving Dean a hot and heavy glare.

“I like that,” was Dean’s reply. It was throaty and more of an animalistic growl than a human voice. He dove into Cas’ neck and suck the flesh hard, all the while Cas struggled to get lubricant from beneath his pillow (he kept a small bottle back there “just in case” or if he was too lazy to go properly into the night stand.)

“H-here,” Cas grunted, handing off the bottle. Dean flicked it open and smeared some around on his fingers, then dipped between their bodies and dabbed it on Cas’ hole. He tensed at first, but quickly warmed to Dean’s touch. “Ooh…”

“You feel good,” Dean whispered. He wiggled a finger inside Cas momentarily before pulling out and readying his cock. Cas’ feet stuck up in the air, toes curling in wicked anticipation. “Easy, easy…”

Cas did his best to relax around the large prick. He kept his fingers spread, clutching to Dean’s muscular back and his legs around him for security. Then, as Dean eased himself inside, they both started grunting and melting into each other.

“Aah,” Cas sighed, taking a deep, tight breath afterward. Dean focused on him with a serious face, lips barely parted and eyes half closed. They maintained steady eye contact as they began to grind in unison.

“Oh, Cas,” Dean moaned. He was working his core firmly so Cas could get the strongest, most pleasurable thrusts he could deliver, and it paid off. Cas kept arcing his back and dipping his head back into the pillows, yelping and groaning deeply. His cock was firm and dripping sweet precum.

“Don’t go anywhere, Dean,” Cas pleaded between grunts. Their pace increased rapidly as orgasms approached. Cas held a trembling hand against the back of Dean’s head now, absentmindedly teasing his short yet soft hair.

“I won’t,” Dean avowed as he breathed heavy, hot moans beneath the sheets.

They tensed all at once as a mutual climax was met—Cas clawed into Dean’s back and spurt cum onto his own stomach, squeezing his thighs around Dean’s trunk and gasping wildly. Dean, however, didn’t move as erratically though his moans grew _very_ loud and his voice even cracked twice. He pumped a thick load right inside Cas’ raw tunnel and then collapsed on top. Sweaty, tired limbs wound around their bodies and they shared a sloppy kiss. Dean broke off the kiss and lay his head down on Cas’ chest.

“You forgot to wear a condom,” Cas said in a tiny voice, after a bit of a silence.

“No. Why would I?”

“To be safe?”

Dean picked his head up again and stared into Cas’ eyes. The blue wells wiggled back at him in some confusion.

“I trust you enough,” Dean began, “And I wouldn’t do it to the guy I’m sticking around with if I had something.”

“That’s—flattering but perhaps not the most intelligent tactic.”

“Right now, life ain’t about intelligence. It’s about emotions and feelings and, well, _sensing_ what’s right.”

Cas couldn’t help but laugh. He kept his hand on the back of Dean’s head and rubbed his scalp gently. “You talk an incredible amount of bullshit, Dean Winchester.”

“Maybe, but you’re lying if you say you don’t like it.”

There was no reasoning his way out of that one. Dean was awfully special. Cas was so happy that of all the people to be destined to meet, it happened to be Dean.

* * *

_February 2 nd, 2004 (relatively)_

_Principalities Headquarters_

_Third Sphere, Heaven_

* * *

“Why have you called me here?”

Anna appeared in a bright office with nothing but a desk, two chairs and another lady in front of her. This other one was turned away with her hands behind her back.

“There is an issue, Anna.”

“What is it?”

“A rogue demon.”

“Who? Where?”

The other woman turned around. Her upper lip was twitching and her cold eyes fixed on Anna.

“Ruby.”

“ _Ruby?_ What has she done?”

“It would appear that she has murdered several humans. Years ago, even.”

Anna gasped. “It cannot be! It simply cannot _be!_ Ruby has vowed to work _with_ the humans!”

“And how do you know?”

“Because…”

Anna ceased speaking at this point. She pressed her lips closed tightly and diverted her eyes towards the unforgiving grey floor. The other woman walked around her desk and stood right in front of Anna.

“Is there something you need to tell me? _Us?_ ”

Hesitating, Anna admitted, “We had made a deal, years ago. That we would both try to assimilate with the humans.”

“How can you be so foolish?!” The woman shrieked, causing Anna to buckle.

“Naomi, please!”

“Demons are _never_ to be trusted! Look at what has now happened!!”

“How many did she kill? Why?”

“ _Why?_ Do demons need a reason?! She has killed two families, Anna, two families!! That blood is on your hands!”

“How is on my hands? I had nothing to do with them!”

Naomi got right into Anna’s face and pointed at her sharply. “ _She_ sought those humans out by name. _You_ made a deal with her involving the humans. If _you_ aren’t responsible for setting Ruby off, then she didn’t actually kill anyone.” Anna said nothing. “ _You_ are going to find Ruby and clean up her mess, or _you_ will be the next angel in line to be executed!”


	8. Trick

“Yeah…yeah, that’s him. Fucking _finally_.”

A heavy, dark fog was resting in the basement of an abandoned house. It was a haze, yet suspiciously tangible to be anything but ordinary. It hovered in a vaguely human shape that most people wouldn't be able to see, as it blended in perfectly with the dilapidated house. The only part of the room that wasn’t rotting and falling apart was a large stone basin that the fog was close to. The well-dressed man Crowley, unchanged since the 80s, descended the rickety stairs with his hands in his pockets and addressed the fog.

“Well it’s about time,” he said. “But you still haven’t found a new vessel.”

“Shut _up_ ,” the fog hissed. “I need you to help _get me one_.”

“Oh, and suddenly I’m your little pageboy? I don’t think so.”

“If you help me, I’ll help you. What have you got to lose?”

“And what,” Crowley said with a growl, “Can you possibly help me with?”

“That big promotion you’re looking for?” Crowley narrowed his eyes. “Our father wants the Winchester boy. If you help me get him, well…”

“Very well then, Ruby,” said Crowley. “So you want a new body. I can most certainly find you a good, strong one. But what of the Winchester?”

“Castiel Novak, the father of the angel girl, will help you. See?”

Crowley took his attention to the stone basin. An image flickered around in it.

“And how do you intend Mr. Novak will help?” The man asked.

“You’ll think of something. He’s gay, pretty, easily seduced I bet! You’ve got a guy for that, don’t ya?”

Crowley nodded slowly. He kept catching the swirling images in the basin. “I do,” he said. “Indeed I do.”

* * *

“Dean... _Dean!_ ”

“WAAAH!!”

Cas had been woken up suddenly by Dean’s uncomfortable wiggling. He was clearly having a nightmare, and Cas simply had to wake him up.

“Were you having a bad dream?” Cas asked.

“I don’t—haah—I don’t remember.”

“Poor Dean…”

Cas smoothed his hand around Dean’s face and put a kiss onto his nose. It felt good to be so close. Dean appreciated the kiss and returned one onto Cas’ lips. Without speaking, Cas slid his leg over Dean and sat up on him, straddling so as to touch their growing hard ons together. Dean groaned sleepily and put his arms around Cas.

“Take me like this,” Cas whispered, “Quickly, before Celeste awakens.”

“Yeah.”

Cas lubed himself up and rubbed some onto Dean’s cock, then positioned himself and sat down. Dean took a deep breath as he penetrated the supple hole.

“Oh, Ca-as…”

“Hng…Dean…it’s _good_.”

Tight breaths of air and strong little thrusts led to a surprisingly intense quickie. Dean wrapped his fist around Cas’ dick and jerked him off as he rode him out. They both struggled to maintain steady breathing, sweat already building up beneath the sheets. Then Cas squirted a thin load out and Dean followed suit. It filled Cas neatly, with a rush of ecstasy that he never wanted to forget.

“Ohh…oh, _Dean_ …”

“Perfect…”

Catching his breath and settling down, Cas saw the clock was already at seven. He tried to fight his way through the tingles that desperately told him to rest some more.

“I think I’ll go into work today,” Cas said.

“Really?”

“Yes. I’ll try to work as many days as I can while we figure this out. What about yourself?”

“Nah,” Dean said, shaking his head. He suppressed a yawn and began to sit up, arms still holding Cas. “I’m good friends with my boss. He knows about my family situation, and I told him I got a new lead that I had to follow up on it.”

“Oh, I see. Then…” Cas paused. They bodies were nice and moist, savoring their continued union. Dean watched Cas through hooded eyes. “Then perhaps you could stay home with Celeste?”

Dean was surprised.

“Are you sure?”

“You know her routine. She trusts you…I trust you.”

“Well, yeah, I’d be happy to watch her if that’s what you really want.”

“Mm. It is. Thank you, Dean.”

Cas gave the demon knife to Dean before he left, instructing him to keep it close “in case anything happens.”

“I’ll be home around six,” said Cas. He gave both Dean and Celeste kisses goodbye. “I have my phone with me, so call if you need to.”

“Sure thing,” Dean told him. He was holding Celeste against his chest. “Bye, Cas.”

“Bye papa!” Celeste cheered, waving her little hand at him.

“Goodbye!”

Cas closed the door and Dean put Celeste down. “So,” he said, “What do you feel like doing?”

“Coloring?”

“Okay. Where’s your stuff?”

“My _stuff?_ ”

“Crayons, paper, all that.”

“Oh. My room!”

She climbed up the stairs and Dean followed her to her bedroom, where she struggled to open a drawer and take out art supplies. Once they settled onto the floor, Celeste dumped a bin of markers and grabbed a red one. Dean absentmindedly began lining them up while the girl scribbled on an art pad.

“What’cha drawin’?” Dean asked.

“The red lady.”

“ _Who?_ ”

“The red lady!”

Dean’s brow wrinkled. “Is she uh, from one of your books or something?”

“No. She comes into my room.”

Celeste was so nonchalant about it that Dean was utterly stunned. He rolled a marker in his fingers and watched her scribbling. “What’s she look like?”

“She’s old like papa and has red hairs.”

“She um…does she talk to you?”

“No.”

“What does she do?”

Celeste frowned in deep thought. “She...stands here…and she goes real fast!”

“Huh. Okay.”

It must have been Anna, just like the woman in Ohio and the apparition that Cas saw. Anna’s ghost was hanging around different places, but why? Was there a better way to talk to her? Obviously she had something she had to do.

The more Dean thought about it, it occurred to him that if angels and demons were real, there had got to be someone who knew. The psychics that his father went to back in the day never gave much information like that, so finding a place to start would be tricky.

“Hey, Celeste, how about we take this stuff downstairs so I can go on your papa’s computer?”

“Okay.”

They moved down to the computer room where Celeste had her own little desk. Dean put her markers and papers there and then he got online. Not surprisingly, the internet was filled with sites that talked about angels, demons, ghost and any other kind of paranormal junk you could possibly think of—but how could you tell if it was legitimate or not?

Dean spent almost two hours browsing websites. He tried different keywords, even specific phrases such as “Anna angel”, “Anna angel pregnant”, “demon murders family” and whatnot. It mostly pulled up garbage and it wasn’t until Dean thought about the _knife_ that he made progress.

“ _Demon killing knife Kurdish_ ”, he searched. Only one site came up; a poorly designed disaster called _ask-archangel-gabriel_.

“What the heck?” Dean said aloud when he clicked on it. There wasn’t much on the webpage other than a few articles.

“FINDING A DEMON: Are you hunting a demon? Do you need some pointers? Well, for starters you need tools. Demons don’t like holy water. It can’t kill them but it can hurt _. Click here for ways to get holy water!_ Demons can’t be killed unless the vessel is severed from the corrupted soul. You see, a demon is nothing more than a dead human soul that’s been corrupted over centuries in Hell. The soul can’t be killed unless it latches onto a body and that body is destroyed with the right tool. Right tool? Right tool! For thousands of years, mankind has looked for ways to kill demons, but the only success they really had was with a certain knife made by the Kurds. It’s handle is bone and Kurdish is inscribed on the blade. Chances are you don’t have it but if you ever come across it, that will kill your demons. Other than, you’ll have to hook up with an angel to help you out. But remember—angels can be killed, too!”

Dean tightened his jaw. The site was so odd and crazy that, if he didn’t hold that exact demon killing knife in his hand, he would write it off as bullshit. Once he had that information, he could get a better grounding on the other sites. For instance, one blog that demons were monsters born from the sky that came here to rape humans was bogus. Dean found an empty notebook and began taking great notes on his findings. This research would help a lot.

* * *

“’Cuse me?”

“Hm?”

After Cas left his office for the day and was heading to his car, a man he hadn’t seen before flagged him down. He was about his age and blond, with a nice body and handsome features. His voice had a light Yat accent.

“Mr. Novak, right?”

Cas blinked. “Yes, that’s me. Can I help you with something?”

He put his hands into his pockets (he was wearing a nice suit) and coyly tipped his head to the side. “Th’ name’s Styne, Eldon Styne,” he said, “And I heard you do mighty fine work in your firm.”

“Thank you, Mr. Styne. I do my best.”

“I was just wondering if I could pick your brain a little.”

“Ah, well I’m flattered but I’m in the middle of some difficult personal affairs,” Cas explained, holding his car keys in his hand, “And I really don’t have the time at the moment. Perhaps later, once all of this gets sorted.”

“What kinda personal affairs?”

Eldon took a few casual steps closer to Cas, but Cas stood his ground.

“That’s none of your business, Mr. Styne.”

“Oh is that right?”

Cas nodded stiffly. “Yes. It is.”

Eldon get close enough now that they were only a foot apart. Cas went to back up, but the man grabbed onto his arm.

“Now I just wanna talk,” said Eldon.

“I have to _go_!”

Cas tied to pull out of the man’s grip but it was useless. This guy was somehow _much_ stronger than Cas. He used his free hand to take a gun from his jacket and pressed it right to Cas’ sternum. Cas immediately forced a smile.

“Ah, right!” he said, trembling. “Let’s just talk!”

Eldon smirked. “There we go.” He pulled Cas in the opposite direction of his car, leading him to a black SUV. “You come with me and have a little chat, then I’ll leave you on your way and everything’s gonna be all right.”

“Yes,” Cas agreed, doing his best not to cry. He worried about his safety, but more so for Dean and Celeste.


	9. Captives

They drove a great distance and Cas remained quiet throughout. Eldon had handcuffed Cas’ wrists together and made him sit on his arms, so it was incredibly uncomfortable and he couldn’t escape if he wanted to.

Finally they arrived at a house where Eldon parked and assisted Cas out. They went through the front door, masked by the overwhelming darkness that was broken only by faint lights within. It was a fairly large house, decorated modestly and if he hadn’t just been kidnapped it might even be comfortable to Cas.

“Now then, Mr. Novak,” Eldon said, pulling Cas through the house by his tie, “I invite you to make yourself comfortable. I just need a little bit of information from you.”

They came into a sitting room and Eldon had Cas take a chair. A couple of old fashioned lamps were on in the corner, and a coffee table sat before them. Against the walls sat a couple large pieces of antique furniture. Cas was still quiet. He hadn’t said a word since they got inside the car.

“The amount of time you’ll be here and the way I treat you will depend on how well you cooperate. D’you understand, Mr. Novak?”

Cas nodded sadly.

“I have three questions. Are you ready?”

He nodded again, bracing for what was to come. Eldon looked pleased with himself.

“Now I’m a nice guy,” he continued, “So much that I’m actually gonna give you the questions at once so you can think ‘em through first. You understand?”

“Yes,” Cas whispered. The man smirked.

“Good, good. Here we go. First, I need to know where Mr. Winchester is. Second, I need to know where that special demon killing knife is; and third, I need to know where that half-angel daughter of yours is.”

“No!” Cas instinctively yelled. He froze after realizing that he may have just cost himself his own life. The amused look on Eldon’s face immediately fell flat and he turned to Cas with an evil frown.

“No to what, Mr. Novak?”

Cas buckled. “I’ll never tell you where they are. I’d rather die than have my daughter hurt!”

“Mm. But then you admit you know where Mr. Winchester is?”

Cas didn’t reply.

“I said, you know where Mr. Winchester is, don’t ya?”

He still said nothing. This made Eldon mad. He suddenly kicked the coffee table over, shattering the glass on top with a great ruckus then grabbed the arms of Cas’ chair and got right into his face.

“WHERE IS MR. WINCHESTER?!” he yelled.

“ _Never tell_ ,” Cas whispered stiffly.

Expecting his kidnapper to react angrily once more, Cas braced himself. But nothing happened. Eldon’s face softened. He let go of the chair and stood up straight. Cas felt sick.

“I had a feeling it would be this way,” Eldon said, chuckling softly. Cas didn’t like the humor in his voice. “That’s why I have a little something called ‘plan B’ set up. Mr. Novak, do you wanna know what ‘plan B’ is?”

Cas didn’t know how to respond so he did nothing, only stared at Eldon’s fierce eyes. The blond man sauntered over to a desk against the wall, opened it up and began messing with vials of something. From Cas’ angle, he could see an arrangement of medical-looking objects. Then Eldon took a hypodermic needle and filled it with a liquid he had presumably mixed.

“N-no,” Cas muttered. “Please…what are you going to do?”

“Nothing too bad.” Eldon returned, holding the needle in one hand and a mischievous grin on his face. “Now hold still or else it might hurt.”

* * *

“Cas, it’s Dean again. I know you said you’d be home by six, but it’s almost nine now and I haven’t heard. Please call me back.”

Dean put his phone down with a pained sigh. Cas had vanished and now he was stuck with Celeste, worried that something terrible may have happened. He kept telling himself that any minute now, Cas would come through the door with a crazy story and they would laugh it off, but…

Celeste had been put to bed not long ago. She wasn’t too worried since Dean though it would be best and not tell her that papa was missing. He took the responsibility that Cas gave him seriously, though, and he was going to protect Celeste with his life. He sat at the bottom of the stairs with the demon knife in one hand and his cellphone in the other, waiting for something to happen. No way was he going to fall asleep without knowing where Cas was.

“Bzzzt---sh---nee---he—“

All of the sudden, the TV in the living room turned on. Dean startled and sprang to his feet. On the screen was a ton of static, wavy lines and intermitted blurs of a person. They had red hair.

“Anna?!” Dean shouted. He ran up to the TV but didn’t know what to do.

“You---g---tr—ing---“

“ANNA?! HEY!! What do I do?!”

“Ch—an—change the—ch—Change—annel!”

Frantically, Dean put the knife and phone down then began to flip through the channels. Most of them were even buzzier and no speech could but heard, but then he hit one and the image was clearer. A fair woman with long red hair was there, waving her arms around. It was still incredibly difficult to see her and it buzzed and flickered with great static, but at least it was somewhat reliable.

“Oh my God,” the woman said quickly, “I’ve been—ing so hard to g—through to you!”

“Anna?! Anna, where are you?! Where’s Cas?!”

“Cas? I don’t—ow, but I’m sure he’s a---alive. Lis--- Dean, you n--- to call Bobby –inger.”

“Bobby Singer?” Dean asked. His eyes were wide as he tried to focus on the woman.

“Yeah, yeah! ---bby Singer! Bobby Singer in S---alls, South Da---.”

“What?!”

“Bob----inger in Sioux Falls, S--- Dakota! You need to –all him!”

“Sioux Falls, South Dakota?”

“YES!” she yelled. “H--- up! You’ll find ---and he can---elp—ust—all—“

Static over took the image again, and suddenly a sign off went up, leaving Dean alone in the quiet room. This was the strangest thing that had happened to him and considering what had happened since he met Cas, that was saying a lot.

* * *

Cas woke up in a fog. He couldn’t remember what had happened. His head hurt. His body ached. There was daylight hitting his face, it looked like early morning sun, and he was naked.

“Aah…”

His hands were still bound behind him but he now had the addition of a collar tight around his neck. He sat up and realized that he was laying on a carpeted floor next to a bed.

“Mornin’, Mr. Novak.”

Eldon’s voice pierced his ears like nails on a chalkboard. In an instant, Cas remember everything that happened up until the injection. He looked over to Eldon and saw that he, too, was naked. But he was standing proudly and drying off his hair from presumably a shower.

“What happened?” Cas groaned.

“Oh. Hm. Last night?”

“Yes…”

Eldon stepped over to Cas and bent down to grab a chain. It was apparently attached to the collar, and when he yanked on it, Cas was jerked forward.

“I claimed that beautiful ass of yours,” said Eldon. He looked quite proud of what he had done.

“What’s the point of all this? Do you really think making me your _sex slave_ is going to get the information you want? You can assault me endlessly. That won’t do any good.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’ve had sex before. I can tolerate a lot.”

“What about your daughter? Who’s looking after her?” Cas said nothing and Eldon grinned. “It’s the Winchester, isn’t it?” Nothing, still. The man laughed. “Fantastic. That’s fantastic. Superb. We can get them at the same time, but I just need to know where.”

He squat down to Cas’ level and got right in his face, eyes narrowed and lips parted. The hand that wasn’t holding the chain came to Cas’ cheek and touched him with an odd tenderness.

“All I want to know is where they are,” Eldon whispered.

“No.”

“How d’you think they feel, not knowing where you are?”

Cas’ lower lip trembled. The pain was overwhelming, of course, even though he trusted Dean to do the right thing.

“I-I’d rather them be worried than hurt. I won’t sell out.”

“All right, then,” said Eldon. “That’s fine. It doesn’t bother me one bit. I’ll just keep you here and do as I please until you change your mind. Now kiss me.”

“No.”

Eldon pulled the chain and Cas’ was choked by it. He dug his fingers into the enslaved man’s cheek and insisted, angrier now, “ _Kiss me_.”

Cas was forced to put their lips together but he hardly did anything more. Eldon glared at him and whispered, “Kiss me like you love me.”

If he was going to survive this, Cas would have to play along. He closed his eyes and initiated a deep, slow kiss with Eldon, which lasted for a few long moments until the blond broke it off. He got to his feet and petted Cas on the head. “Good boy. Now stay here while I take care of some business.”

* * *

After the initial shock of seeing Anna had worn off, Dean went to the phonebooks and began looking up Bobby Singer once more. This time, he knew the area to search. With luck on his side, there was only one Robert Singer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He contemplated waiting until morning, but if Anna was that desperate, this Bobby guy probably had some inkling of what was happening and he might not mind.

“….hello?”

“Is this Bobby Singer?”

“Who wants to know?”

The voice sounded like an older man, gruff and angry. Dean hesitated. What if the apparition of Anna was really just a trap? Demons seemed like they would do something like that.

“This is Dean, Dean Winchester.”

The other side paused.

“ _Dean?_ ”

“Uh, yeah. I’m supposed to—“

“How do I know you’re really _Dean_ Winchester?”

“Well, let’s see,” Dean began. He cleared his throat. “I was born January 24th, 1978 in Lawrence, Kansas to Mary and John Winchester. My mom and little brother Sam were murdered on March 22nd, 1990. We never found the killer and I spent the next couple of years chasing suspicions with my dad, then he was killed the same sort of way in 1996. I gave up on all of that business until I met Castiel Novak, just on the 4th of this month. Turns out he had a baby with an angel named Anna, but Anna was killed two years ago. Cas thinks a demon killed my family and also Anna, so we’ve been working together now. But Cas just disappeared and now the ghost of Anna told me to call you.”

More silence, then the man said, “Well I’ll be damned…”

“Are you Bobby Singer?”

“Sure am. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s sure good to talk to you, Dean Winchester.”

“Do you _know_ me?”

“Not personally, but I most definitely will. I need to lay some information down for you. Are you sitting?”

“Uh…yeah…”

Dean stared at the wall and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. There was no telling what he was about to learn.

“First of all,” said Bobby, “Angels ain’t got ghosts. When they die, they’re _dead_. If you’re talking to Anna, then she’s still alive.”

“You think?”

“I know, son. Believe me. Now, what I’m about to tell you is gonna be a shocker. Are you ready?”

Dean hesitated. “I think so.”

Bobby took a deep breath. “This is the story of how I came to know about angels and demons. It all started five years ago, in February of 2004…”


	10. Old Old Secrets

 

* * *

_February 17 th, 2004_

_Unknown cemetery, South Dakota_

_11:23pm_

* * *

A man dressed in plaid and a sloppy baseball hat stood in front of a headstone. Beneath the hat’s brim and behind his beard, he was painfully sad. A pin drop could be heard throughout the entire graveyard. _Karen Singer_ was written on the headstone.

“Ten years to the day,” he muttered to himself, “An’ I still miss you like it was last week.”

He stared in silence for several more minutes before turning away solemnly and heading back to his car. Memories of his late wife flooded his every thought and every step. Life wouldn’t ever be the same without her.

Out of nowhere came a loud crashing sound and the ground shook. Bobby froze in his steps momentarily, then ran in the direction that it came from. He could hear two people talking.

“I think I made a slight error in calculation,” said a woman. Bobby went across the parking lot, empty except for his car and headed towards a bunch of trees where he thought the voices were.

“It…argh…that was _bad_.” This voice belonged to a man. He sounded young.

Bobby got closer and saw a faint blue light glowing from what appeared to be a crater. His steps slowed down. He could make out the silhouette of a thin woman standing over another, which he assumed to be the man. Fog was rising from the trees.

“Hello?” Bobby called out. “Everyone all right over there?”

“I’m not sure,” grunted the young man.

“Let me see that, I can assist,” said the woman.

Bobby walked up to the trees and he could see the people better. The woman had red hair and a fair, bony face. She wore a silken white gown. The young man was on the ground, covered in dirt and possibly wounds. From what Bobby could see, he was tall.

“Uhh…” Bobby didn’t know how to respond. The whole situation was too strange. “You need help, son?”

The woman crouched beside the young man and placed her hands flat on his chest. His whole body glowed blue, not unlike the crater (still nearby and illuminated) just for a second. Bobby didn’t move. “What’n the world…”

“I am requesting your aid,” said the woman, directed at Bobby now. He pointed to himself in disbelief.

“ _Mine?_ Ya need _me?_ Who on Earth are you?”

With some desperation, the woman helped up the young man then turned to Bobby and opened her arms. “I am an angel of the Lord,” she said, “And I am in dire need of placing this young human male in a home.”

“ _Wha_?” Bobby asked, squinting. The young man scratched his shaggy hair and looked at Bobby with a shrug. “What’s your story, boy?”

“It’s farfetched, but considering you just met an angel…I was kidnapped and raised by a demon.”

“A _what_ now?”

“A demon,” the guy and the angel both said.

“It wasn’t fun. But this angel? She rescued me.”

“I did, however the demon is searching for us both. I have come here because she will not find him easily. Please, please take my counsel and help this young man.”

Bobby pressed his lips together. He nodded stiffly. “Tell me everything I need ta know.”

* * *

_The Novak Residence_

_Present Day_

* * *

 

“You mean to say…my brother’s still alive?”

Dean held the phone to his head just barely since his palm was sweating. The story Bobby had just told him from five years ago was so crazy, so unbelievable yet everything he wanted to hear.

“Yeah. Sam’s here.”

“But I don’t understand. Sam was murdered. I saw his _body_.”

“That demon made a fake so you wouldn’t know she took ‘im.”

Dean pressed his eyes tight. “I can’t…no way…”

“I warned ya it was gonna be a wild ride.”

“Yeah, but no warning could’ve prepared me for _that_. Where is Sam? Can I…can I talk to him? He must be almost thirty now…”

“He’s in bed. I’d hate to wake him. He’s a real decent fella but living with that demon done warped his brain. You need to get out this was as soon as you can. Ain’t safe down there.”

“But Cas?”

“Nothin’ you can do about him any better than you can out here. You got a fax machine?”

“A fax? I dunno. Let me…” Dean looked around the room. “Uh, yeah, actually. We do.”

“Gimme the number. I’m gonna fax you a buncha instructions. Sigils and whatnot you need ta put on yourself and your car to make sure nobody can find you. Surprised Anna never told you that.”

“I haven’t exactly talked to her much.”

“Well, no matter. Gimme that number so you can head out. And I’m sorry that this has to happen to ya so fast.”

* * *

“Nng…hng…it’s…too…big…gaaah…”

Cas was on his hands and knees, sitting up on a great, fluffy king sized mattress while Eldon delivered a wicked pounding to his ass. He had the chain in his fist and pulled back on Cas’ collar from time to time so he wasn’t constantly suffocating in the pillows. The bedroom was decorated so pleasantly that the terror going on inside was rather conflicting.

“Maybe you’re just too tight, eh?” Eldon huffed between groans, slamming his ridiculously thick cock into him.

“I…gaah…ah…”

“No cumming ‘til I do, remember.”

“R-right…”

“Mmm—but lucky for you---aaah…”

All at once, Eldon pulled back on the chain and let a load fill Cas up. He ground his hips against the man with a satisfied sigh, riding out his orgasm slowly. He really wanted to savor it.

“Now that was nice,” he said, slipping out. A great gush of cum flooded forth from and splatter onto the covers. Cas collapsed and Eldon went to the bathroom. He washed up then came out fully dressed. “I got some business to take care of. You stay here and out of trouble, you hear me?”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

Cas sighed. “Yes _sir_.”

“That’s my boy.”

Eldon left the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Cas just sighed again and rested onto the bed a little more comfortably. So far, the way that Eldon treated him was only _irritating_. He could tolerate a painfully thick cock, moderately rough bondage and some mild humiliation. For a kidnapped sex slave, it was surprisingly counterproductive. The only torment that Cas had, and it was significant, was what Dean and Celeste were doing. He knew that Eldon was aware of that, and the psychological torment worried him the most. What was coming next?

Feeling deep pain within his heart, Cas slid off of the bed and very, very quietly went to the door. He put his ear up against it and tried to listen. Nothing. Eldon could be anywhere. What would happen if he tried to escape? What’s the worst Eldon could do? No amount of “real” torture would get Cas to confess what the man wanted, so maybe it was worth a shot.

Cas opened his mouth up and put it over the doorknob (gross) then turned it with his lips. He carefully opened it up and stuck his head out into the hallway. He didn’t see or hear anybody, so he decided to go out. Some cum was dribbling down his leg still and it was very hard to be completely quiet, but he did a pretty good job as he went for the stairs down. He made sure to close to door behind him just in case he stayed out. As he neared the railing, he heard Eldon speaking in a nearby room. What really got his attention was the _tone_ of his voice; he didn’t sound angry, snarky or in control. In fact, he might have been a little frightened.

“ _I know exactly what I’m doing, and, and I won’t let you down._ ”

Cas hobbled over to the door and listened better. There was a second voice within the room, one that was low, musky and British.

“Well, here’s the problem, _Eldon_ ,” the other voice said, “How am I supposed to trust you when there’s so little you fear?”

“Little I fear? What? How’d you—how’d you get an idea like that? I fear many things, Mr. Crowley.”

“Mm. Like what? Name some.”

“F-for instance, goin’ back. I don’t wanna go back and face that.”

“Really, now?”

“No, no, Mr. Crowley, not at all.”

“Hardly convincing, but go on.”

Eldon cleared his throat. His voice quivered a bit more. “A-and I’m rather terrified of _you_ , Mr. Crowley.”

Crowley chuckled audibly. The sound of glassware could be heard, leaving Cas in wonder of what exactly was going on within.

“I like to hear that,” said Crowley. “What else? Humor me some more.”

“Mighty terrified of demons,” Eldon explained. This made Cas wonder even more; if Eldon was scared of demons he couldn’t be one, right? This whole time Cas was certain he had been getting manhandled by one. Crowley, however, only found this to be amusing.

“You are really a gem, Eldon, do you know that?”

“Thank you, Mr. Crowley.”

“No, really. You are…you are phenomenal. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Uh. Th-thank you, Mr. Crowley.”

“You are aware of that raise I’m looking for, yes?”

“I am.”

“And you realize that getting Mr. Winchester back to Ruby is going to help me, right?”

“Yes, Mr. Crowley.”

Something slammed onto a surface. Cas guessed it was this Crowley’s fists. His voice suddenly filled with rage, similar to how Eldon treated Cas.

“SO QUIT PUSSYFOOTING AROUND AND GET ME THAT INFORMATION!!”

“Y-yes, Mr. Crowley, sir. I’m on it.”

“THIS MAN—CASTIEL NOVAK—HE ISN’T JUST FOR YOU TO HAVE _FUN_ WITH!! REMEMBER THE DEAL WITH HAVE, ELDON! YOU—BELONG—TO—ME!!!”

“Y-yes…Mr. Crowley…”

Then everything fell silent.

No more words were spoken.

Cas stayed by the door and thought until he realized he had to move in case Eldon came out. He wandered further down the hall, waddling a bit since his arms were still bound behind his back, then froze when that door opened up. He ducked out of the way and into an open room so that Eldon wouldn’t see him. His footsteps came that way and Cas backed up further and further into the room. There weren’t any windows in it and the lights were off, making it quite dark. With Cas’ heart in his throat, Eldon walked right by, reached in and closed the door. Cas was in that room now and Eldon had no idea. It was terribly dark. He managed to stand up quietly and grope around the wall with his mouth until he found a light switch. Hopefully, no one would notice the light on beneath the door.

The room he was in looked like a study. There were bookshelves and a desk that had old, old books sitting upon it. Cas’ curiosity got the best of him. It was only a matter of time until Eldon realized he was gone and then found him, so he thought he would examine what he could. Perhaps his ghost could help Dean and Celeste, just like Anna’s.

Cas hobbled over to the desk and looked at what sat there. The books were incredibly old and dilapidated, unmarked things that made Cas _really_ wish he had his hands free. He struggled to turn around and try to open one up. After some time of fidgeting and also trying to be quiet, he got one opened up to the middle. He turned around and looked it over. The book was handwritten.

_May 1 st, 1880_

_It appears I have around a month left. Terribly rotten of these folks to assume witchcraft out of me. Witchcraft! The nerve. I am not only offended but also bewildered and terrified. I’ve written to my darling but I doubt he will be here in time. I pray to God every night that he may send his messengers to help me_.

Cas had to read the entry several times. It made no sense to him. Why would Eldon have something like this in his study? Curiosity piqued, he had to turn around and try to flip the page again. He ended up going almost to the end.

_June 9 th, 1880_

_My execution is on the 11 th. I have not heard from my darling. My letters may have missed him or he might avoid the situation all together, as I am doomed regardless. My prayers have gone unanswered. I question my faith in God._

The door slammed open and a furious Eldon stormed inside. Cas nearly crapped himself.

“WHAT—ARE—YOU—DOING?!” he asked, nearly fuming at the ears. Cas turned around and stared at him, unable to speak. “ANSWER ME!”

“I took a wrong turn.”

“WHY—WERE—YOU—OUT—OF—YOUR—ROOM?!”

Knowing he was about to die anyway, Cas decided to risk it all for the chance at some info. “Why do you have this old diary?”

“None of your business! Get out!”

Eldon grabbed Cas’ chain and pulled him out of the room, turning the light off as they left and then he slammed the door. He tugged Cas all the way back to the bedroom and threw him to the floor violently.

“You’re a damned _rat!”_ Eldon hissed. “I won’t give you any dinner tonight and you’ll go to bed hungry. This is naughty behavior. I expected better from someone who’s been damn good at taking orders so far.”

Cas curled up into a ball on the floor, as best as he could, and closed his eyes painfully. He hadn’t gained anything except more questions now. But no dinner was better than no life.


	11. Terrible Things

 

“I know your papa doesn’t like this, but we have no other choice.”

Dean had strapped Celeste into his Impala and rode out for South Dakota. The trip was long and anything but fun, and with the news of Dean’s brother fresh on his mind it was nearly impossible to get through. He wanted answers. Solutions. Cas was missing but his dead brother was alive. He cursed fate but kept a strong heart because Celeste needed him. Right now, he was the only person who could protect her and try to bring her father back.

They made the trip in two days, staying at a motel in the middle. Celeste was uneasy but she slept a lot, which made Dean very happy. In general she was an agreeable child and not at all picky about food.

Once they reached South Dakota, Dean stopped off at a McDonald’s to grab some lunch before whatever awaited them at Bobby Singer’s.

“Here ya go,” said Dean, handing Celeste’s food over to her. She had to sit in the crappy spare car seat since Cas’ vehicle was missing in action. She also had to since up front because the backseat didn’t have any kind of seatbelt. The whole rig Dean set up wasn’t exactly legal, but it was the best he could do and he figured it would keep Celeste as safe as possible.

“Chicken nuggets!” Celeste cheered. “Thank you, D!”

She had picked out that nickname for him after he suggested dropping “mister.” At this point, Dean was almost on a second father basis with her.

“We’re gonna get to Bobby Singer’s place real soon. I think life will straighten up a whole lot after that.”

“Okay.”

Dean drove on until he found their destination; it was a rundown looking auto shop. The entrance was filled with beaters and at the back was a rambler with a garage attached. As they drove up, an older man came out.

“Are you Bobby Singer?” Dean called out.

“Sure am.”

“I’m Dean.”

“Figured as much. Come on in, son.”

Dean parked and carried Celeste inside. The house was cozy but cluttered. It was clearly a place that had seen many things, and was likely older than Bobby. Bookshelves lined with old, dusty volumes and various knickknacks covered the walls. Strange talismans and otherworldly objects hung from this and that, giving the appearance that a witch might live there.

“Nice to finally meet’cha, Dean,” said Bobby. He tipped his beat up baseball cap and flashed a probably-rare smile.

“Same,” said Dean. Celeste was preoccupied with all the crap to look at to care about the stranger. “So, uh, not to be rude, but is my brother around?”

“Yep.”

Bobby went to the stairs and called up, “SAM!” then shortly thereafter came the man in question. Dean was taken aback by what he saw—Sam, who was eight years old and a teeny, scrawny boy when he last saw him ten years ago, was now _taller_ than Dean. His legs were long and thin but his upper body was incredibly built. He had his hair somewhat long, and it was straight. He had grown into his face well but despite a strong, masculine look, there was a hint of soft boyishness to him. He saw Dean and froze in his tracks.

“Sam?” Dean asked in a choked voice. “ _Sammy?_ ”

“It really is you, Dean, isn’t it?”

Sam hurried down the stairs and got right up to Dean. He looked him over, eyes wide. Dean had to set Celeste down and the men immediately hugged. Dean pressed his eyes together and tried to keep his tears back.

“I thought you were _dead_ , Sammy…I saw you _dead_ …”

“I’m so sorry, Dean…”

The hug was broken up but they remained close. “What happened to you, Sammy?”

“It’s a long story,” Sam sighed. “I really wish I could have been in touch with you earlier, but there was no way. By the time I met Bobby, we were told _you_ were dead.”

“What?! By who?”

Dean looked between Bobby and Sam.

“We had worked with certain messengers,” Sam explained, “And they said you had been killed six years after my ‘death.’”

“No, no! That was _dad_. _Dad_ was killed.”

Sam sniffed. “We were misinformed. I’m so sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” said Dean. “Not a _damn_ bit of that matters. We’re together now and we _gotta_ figure out what happened. You have any idea where Cas is?”

Bobby and Sam shook their heads. “But we can find out,” said Bobby. “’Specially as we’re all together now.”

* * *

For Cas, there were worse things than going to bed hungry; like dreaming of being back in Dean’s arms, only to wake up still nude, bound and on the floor of Eldon’s bedroom. To make matters even worse, he was woken up by the coarse voice of this Mr. Crowley character.

“What is going on here?” the husky British accent asked.

Eldon must have been sleeping. The sounds of him struggling to wake up could be heard. “Just…we’re just getting on with punishment, Mr. Crowley.”

“I gave you _three_ things, only _three_ things to get, and you haven’t produced _any_!” Crowley hissed. He stepped closer. “Time and time again I have taught you about torture and yet you continue to disappoint me. What have you got to say for yourself?” Eldon was silent. Crowley’s voice grew soft. “I think I’ll just send you back and revoke our deal.”

“NO!” Eldon shouted. “Anything but that, _please!_ ”

“Then get me my answers.”

“I…but…”

Crowley sighed. “Very well,” he said stiffly, but then a smirk grew on his face and he stepped over to Cas. “I’ll take matters into my own hands, then. But I’ll reconsider our deal regardless.”

The suited man came to Cas and grabbed up the chain attached to his neck. He yanked hard with a stronger hand than Cas expected. He then proceeded to drag Cas painfully across the floor and out of the room. Struggling but not resisting, Cas saw Eldon’s face staring at him. He was anything but happy.

“Now then, darling,” said Crowley, “Since Mr. Styne is yet again incapable of true torture, I will do the honors. It can’t hurt my resume, anyway.”

He had pulled Cas down two flights of stairs and into the cold basement. There wasn’t much down there aside from a couple surgical tables and two chairs—one was metal, the other was well cushioned and comfortable looking. Crowley forced Cas into the metal one and loomed over him.

“I’ll give you one last chance to answer the questions before I begin—Where is the Winchester, where is the demon knife, and where is your daughter?” Cas refused to speak. “Oh, well. More fun for me.”

Crowley took a thin blade out from his suit’s pocket and held it to Cas’ neck. Cas braced. Crowley teased him with a cool edge of metal, yet did nothing. Cas kept his eyes tightly closed.

“You don’t _really_ think I’m about to kill you, do you?” Crowley asked, but Cas didn’t answer. “Killing you would be _fun_ but then you would be dead and I wouldn’t have my answers. How productive is that?”

Cas opened one eye. He stared back at Crowley, who was smiling wickedly. A few moments of silence passed between the two.

“See?” asked Crowley. “Do you think I’m such a bad guy?”

Cas relaxed just barely, and in that instance, Crowley slashed across Cas’ neck. It wasn’t at all a fatal wound, but it was incredibly painful and bled out a lot. Cas yelped in pain. Crowley was quite pleased.

“I don’t understand why this is so hard for Mr. Styne,” Crowley mused, mostly to himself. He slashed again across Cas’ neck as if he were buttering his morning toast. “It’s such splendid fun. Though, I must give him some credit for taking advantage of you sexually, as you are _very_ attractive. For a human, at least.”

Another slash, lower this time, and Crowley put the knife away. Cas was bleeding out a decent bit, feeling overwhelmingly dizzy from the pain. “You’re a demon, aren’t you,” he muttered in an exhausted voice. Crowley smiled.

“What gave it away?”

Ignoring his sassy question, Cas threw another at him; “And Eldon? Is he?”

Crowley chuckled heartily. “Just a human, like you.”

Cas narrowed his eyes. He looked down and saw blood running over his nude body. “Why…why is Eldon doing this if he isn’t a demon?”

“Too many questions, love. I don’t think I should answer yours unless you answer mine. Hm? Hm?” Cas fell quiet again. “Oh, well.”

Now, Crowley walked over to one of the metal tables and fumbled with some objects Cas couldn’t see. He talked to himself too quietly for Cas to understand, or perhaps it was still the shock from his torture that made everything foggy.

“Oh!” Crowley shouted with great enthusiasm. He glanced back to Cas. “I have a splendid idea, actually, considering what sort of fun you’ve been up to with Eldon.”

Crowley opened a drawer on one of the tables and returned with—to Cas’ great surprise—what appeared to be a big dildo.

“Would you like to learn a little about demons?” Crowley asked. Cas didn’t answer. The demon grabbed that chain around his victim’s neck and hurled him to the floor. He snapped his fingers and an unseen energy forced Cas down, his face against the floor and rear stuck up in the air. The cuffs were still binding his arms behind his back and blood continued to dribble out of his neck.

“You certainly know about angels,” Crowley continued, “And how they can manipulate objects telekinetically. Well, demons can, too.”

Cas closed his eyes real tight and prepared for the worst. Suddenly, the dildo Crowley had came flying inside Cas’ hole. He let out a cry of pain since it was so large and he was terribly unprepared. As much as he tried to move, the demon powers were forcing him to be still.

“Do you like that?” asked Crowley. The dildo began moving in and out rapidly, and Cas could only guess that it was doing it on its own. “I’m going to let you think about your answer for a while. And the other three answers, too.” Crowley’s voice grew farther away as footsteps left Cas alone. “Ta-ta!”

Cas was left like that for hours. The dildo raped him incessantly, pulverizing his poor, pained hole with zero mercy. His body had begun to numb and by the time Crowley returned, he was barely conscious.

“So, how are we doing, darling?”

Cas couldn’t answer even if he wanted to.

“No change? I’ll have to step it up a notch. Oh, Mr. Styne? Take note, now.”

Eldon was there but Cas didn’t hear him at all. Footsteps came around to his side and suddenly a blade was driven into his side.

“GAAAAAH!” Cas cried out, even through the misery and fogginess. Crowley made a chuckle of delight.

“That’s _beautiful_. Look at the way he wiggles in pain. Do you see? _This_ is how we torture. Once you do it enough you’ll learn to love it as much as you love taking advantage of him.”

“Hmn,” was a little noise of protest from Eldon.

“Again, darling?” Crowley asked Cas. By now, he was practically convulsing. The pain was unbearable; his throat, his side and his asshole. His whole body shook and he felt about to vomit. “No answer always mean yes.”

“AAACHH!” Cas cried as the blade made a second entrance. It was too much. He couldn’t handle it. This experience was far worse than dying. He needed a way out. “FORTY-SIX HALLOW SMITH ROAD!” he screamed. The dildo flew out of him.

“What was that, love?” Crowley asked quietly. Cas could hear uncomfortable noises from Eldon.

“Forty-six Hallow Smith road,” Cas whimpered, “My townhouse…that’s where they both live…and the knife…it’s on him…”

“Ooh!” Crowley cried delightfully. “Our answers! That was easy!! And to think he said he would die before giving them away.”

“P-please,” Cas gasped, “D-don’t…”

“I have to give the news to Ruby right away,” said Crowley.

“What about him?” asked Eldon.

“Ah, I don’t need him. Do as you wish until tonight. I think I’ll send you back, then do him in. And that should earn me that bottle of wine I’ve been saving. Heh heh.”

Crowley’s footsteps disappeared quickly and Cas collapsed. The energy that held him back had vanished. He was fading in and out of consciousness. Hands touched him but he couldn’t stay awake to focus on them. Everything turned black.


	12. Puzzle Pieces

“Are they still asleep?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, they must have been real tired. I’m going to start breakfast, or at least brew some coffee.”

“Sure.”

Sam and Bobby had gathered around the room they made up for Dean and Celeste. He was sleeping heavily, lying on his back with Celeste curled up next to him. She had really taken to him once Cas disappeared. Bobby lingered but Sam went to the kitchen. There was still a lot to tell Dean regarding the past, and even more to figure out with the future.

By the time Sam had brewed a fresh pot of coffee and made it through his first cup, Dean got up and helped Celeste dress. They came into the kitchen all smiles. For Dean, it didn’t matter what was going on and what had happened—his brother was alive.

“Morning, Sammy. Damn, I haven’t said that in…I don’t know if I’ve _ever_ said that!”

Sam smiled, hands around his mug, and returned the greeting. Dean helped Celeste into a chair and immediately got her “mommy bag”, which contained her soft eating utensils and a sippy cup that he put milk into. Sam was impressed with how Dean handled her.

“How long have you been taking care of Celeste?” he asked.

“Eh, I haven’t known her very long, but this child-thing is pretty easy.”

“It seems to come naturally to you,” Sam mused. Dean sat down and smiled at him.

“Look how intelligent and sophisticated you’ve become, Sammy.”

Sam laughed softly. “To be fair, Dean, I was eight the last time you saw me.”

“Yeah, but…you lived with a demon after that, right?” Sam nodded. “I can’t even imagine what that’s like.”

“Well,” Sam began, looking more pensive than frustrated, “The first few years were incredibly traumatic, as you could imagine. She told me that my entire family was killed and that I _had_ to live with her or else I would be, too. I couldn’t leave the house, couldn’t have friends. _But_ , she was taking relatively good care of me. You’d think a demon would be rotten to the core and deprive me of food and other necessities, but no, not at all. She brought me good food and taught me to cook. I had clean running water and full access to the TV. I preferred reading so she kept bookshelves for me and came home with new ones all of the time.”

“Dang,” Dean remarked. He wasn’t quite sure what else to say. The Sam he knew so long ago was very, very different now.

“Yeah, but, well,” Sam’s expression changed now. His lips grew into an embarrassed smile and he looked away from Dean. Celeste was quietly having her milk while watching the adults.

“What?” asked Dean.

“I, heh, as I got older…” Sam shifted uncomfortably in his seat now. “As I got older, Ruby began to _advance_ on me.”

Dean’s eyes widened. “Wait, you mean like _advance_ advance?” Sam nodded. “Oh, sick!”

“Hey, come on,” Sam attempted to defend himself, “If you were a teenager—a virgin—and lived alone with a pretty woman who started flirting with you, you’d take it, wouldn’t you?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” said Dean. He smiled cordially. “But if it was a man…”

“Okay, well whatever,” Sam continued, trying to avoid discussing his brother’s sexuality in detail. “Anyway, Ruby and I grew quite close. Why wouldn’t we? She was all I had and, well, she took good care of me and taught me…a _lot_.”

“But what does a demon know about, uhh, _youknowwhat_?” Dean asked, keeping a close eye on Celeste.

“She’s practically just a human,” Sam explained. “She has a human body that functions normally. She’s just…a lot stronger and a lot more evil.”

“Mmh…”

Dean stared down at the table now. His thoughts went from Sam to Cas, wondering where his lover might be. Was he with a demon? Was he even still alive?

“Y’know, Sammy…after I thought you died, dad and I went looking for answers. He never figured any of this stuff out, though I think he was close. But that hunt ate him up until he died, too. I guess Ruby probably caught up to him and did him in. I told myself I wasn’t gonna let the same thing happen to me, but…”

He fell quiet. Celeste put her sippy cup down and began playing with her fingers. Sam looked at Dean and extended a hand to comfort him. “Cas?” he suggested.

“Yeah,” Dean agreed with a weak nod. “I’m not gonna stop until I find what happened to him.”

* * *

 _“I’m sorry, Mr. Novak…_ ”

Cas heard a vague voice in the midst of his delirium. As his head spun round and round, in and out through dream and reality, he finally came to. His eyes opened slowly and he saw Eldon staring down at him.

“Aah,” Cas winced. “Just do what you must and be done with it.”

Surprisingly, Eldon reached out and put his hand gently on Cas’ arm. “Now I won’t hurt you,” he said softly. Cas worked to focus harder.

“Why would you be anything but nice to—“

Cas suddenly stopped speaking. He sat up and realized that he was sitting on Eldon’s bed and his body felt fine, considering what had happened to him. All of the shackles and chains had been removed and nowhere did he find evidence of stabs or slices. He was still nude, but that was the least of his concerns.

“What happened?” he asked, staring at Eldon.

“I’m sure that isn’t the only question you have,” Eldon explained. He was sitting right next to Cas on the bed, still well dressed but he looked more upset than Cas had seen before.

“No, it isn’t. Why have you changed, and what is happening to me?”

“We’re both gonna die tonight, Mr. Novak,” Eldon said grimly. “There’s no reason for me to keep playing games.”

“Games?”

“Mm. Y’see, I’m bound to Mr. Crowley. He has a curse held over my head. Nothing can kill me unless, well…how do I put this…”

Cas looked at Eldon with a strange sense of compassion. There was pain in his eyes, now. Pain that wanted to be heard.

“That journal you read in my study, remember?”

“Yes.”

“It’s mine.”

Cas froze.

“ _What?_ ”

“That’s my journal.”

“How?! It was marked 1880! How is that possible?”

Eldon pressed his lips together and looked at Cas. “ _I can’t die_ ,” he repeated. “Mr. Crowley put a curse on me back then. I was sent to be hanged on account of being queer. Then just before my execution, this fancy man in a suit appears and offers me a way out. I wasn’t thinking, not at all. There I was, a man about to meet his maker, when a fine looking gent comes and says he can save me.”

Cas listened attentively. If they were going to die, somehow, he might as well make Eldon’s last hours as comfortable as possible.

“The deal gave me eternal life, which I was happy to have. I didn’t care, I just wanted another shot at being human. What Mr. Crowley failed to tell me was that it tethered me to him. In exchange for eternal life, I had to be his right-hand man. I had to do his dirty work. I had to torture.”

“Mr. Crowley doesn’t seem to approve of your methods,” Cas commented in a small voice. Eldon agreed.

“He doesn’t,” he continued. “No matter how many times I tried, I never had the right stomach for brutal carnage. Instead, I followed his orders as best as I could, but…ah…I’m very sorry about the way I had to act. It wasn’t fun for me.”

Cas put his hand over top of Eldon’s now, holding him gently. He closed his eyes and muttered in his deep, throaty voice, “I forgive you.”

“You do?” Eldon asked, looking surprised.

“I do. What have we got to lose?”

“Everything.”

Cas cleared his throat. “But, Eldon, I don’t understand—if you can’t die, how is Crowley going to kill you?”

“Send me back in time,” he said. “He’s gonna throw me back to the moment I was supposed to be hanged.”

“And then? Forgive me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t you rather die than continue under Mr. Crowley’s direction for eternity?”

Eldon trembled here. He squeezed Cas’ hand for comfort, though it didn’t seem to help much at all.

“The things I’ve done,” he began, “Will land me straight in Hell. Then I’ll have to face the worst torture forever. Far worse than living the way I do now.”

Cas frowned. “But if you go back in time, then everything you’ve done hasn’t happened?”

“No, not the way Mr. Crowley’s doing it. He’s just tossing me back there, he isn’t _changing_ time. The only way my fate could be altered would be if he _changed_ time.”

“Oh…do you suppose I’ll go to Hell?”

“I don’t believe so.”

Cas hummed and bit his lower lip. With his hand still in Eldon’s, he leaned forward and touched his face to the man’s shoulder.

“Then if we are to die,” Cas started, “We should at least make good use of our time together.”

“After everything wrong I did to you?”

“You didn’t _want_ to. How can I hold that against you?”

Eldon turned to face Cas. They stared at each other momentarily, unsure of what to say. When Cas looked into Eldon’s crystal blue eyes, he could see the years of pain within them. Up until now he just saw hatred, but perhaps that anger had been directed at Crowley. Cas felt bad. He wished he could help Eldon, but he also wished he could help Dean and Celeste. What would become of them now? They didn’t even know that they were being hunted. Or maybe they did. Maybe Anna’s ghost was assisting them and it would work out.

“You’re a decent fella, Mr. Novak,” Eldon said at last.

“Thank you. I believe, deep down, that you are, too. The demon tricked you, that’s all.”

“I appreciate that for what it’s worth.”

Cas leaned in and put his arms around Eldon’s shoulders. He looked past all of the sexual humiliation he had subjected Cas to and gave him a kiss. Their lips touched in a bittersweet union.

“Why?” Eldon whispered.

“Why what?”

“Why would you kiss me after all that?”

“Because I believe you’re a good man.”

They kissed again. In fact, Cas fully intended to make love with Eldon, had it not been for his mind wandering. The kiss broke and Cas admitted, “I miss Dean…”

“Dean’s your lover?”

“Yes.”

“He’s a lucky guy.”

“He was…but now, what do you think they’ll do to him?”

Eldon blinked. “Who?”

“Dean.”

“No, who will do what to him?”

Cas furrowed his brow and spoke slowly. “Mr. Crowley?”

“Why would he do anything to your lover?”

“Because he’s looking for Dean? Dean and my daughter.”

“What?”

Cas cleared his throat. This was confusing. “Dean? Dean Winchester?”

“ _What?_ ” Eldon gasped. His face suddenly turned pale and his eyes opened even wider. “Crowley wants _Sam_ Winchester. I thought Dean was dead!”

“Sam?!” Cas began to panic. “What will he do when he finds I gave him the wrong Winchester?”

“I don’t want you or myself to find out!” Eldon gasped.

“But what do we do?!”

Thinking fast, Eldon hopped up off the bed and ran to his dresser. He took clothes out and threw them to Cas.

“I don’t understand,” said Cas, “Is there a way out?”

“Not sure, but there’s something we can try. Get dressed if you believe me.”

Cas struggled to get into the clothes quickly. His heart was racing faster than it ever had. He didn’t have time to ask Eldon how he managed to heal him, but he could infer it had something to do with the strange potions and whatnot he kept in that cabinet.

“Does Dean have a number you know?”

“His cellphone.”

Eldon left the bedroom and motioned for Cas to follow. They headed down the hallway and went into the study Cas had been stuck in earlier. Eldon picked up an old looking phone and handed the receiver to Cas. “What’s his number?” Cas told him the digits and he dialed out.

“Hello?”

“Dean!”

“… _Cas?_ ”

“Dean!! Where are you?!”

“Oh my GOD! CAS! What—what happened to you?! Are you okay?!”

“I don’t have time. Dean, listen—“

Eldon suddenly grabbed the phone away from Cas and spoke frantically into it. “There’s a wicked bad demon coming for you,” he explained. “You need to get into a safe zone as soon as possible.”

“Safe zone?” Dean asked. There was some muffled conversation on the other line. “Yeah, we’re in a safe zone. A real good one.”

“Stay there, don’t leave.”

“Wait, who is this?” Dean asked.

“That doesn’t matter. You need to stay in that safe zone and wait it out. I’m…I’m gonna find a way to get Cas back to you. I promise you this.”

“ _Who is this?_ ”

“Listen to him, Dean,” Cas interrupted, butting into Eldon’s face. “I will find you. Stay safe…”

“But, Cas…”

“We don’t have time,” said Eldon.

“Goodbye, Dean.”

“Cas, I—“

Eldon hung up the phone. He looked at Cas sadly. “I’m sorry,” he said, just before turning to the bookshelves and looking around for something.

“That’s fine, I understand. But what are we going to do?”

“We’ve got a little bit of time to play with,” Eldon explained. He pulled out a book and tossed it onto his desk. “I have a couple ideas.”


	13. Into Thin Air

“Luckily, Mr. Crowley gave me access to all kinds of supernatural materials.”

“Surely, you’re quite versed in these matters. I’ve been meaning to ask, how did you manage to heal me?”

Eldon was sitting at his desk and paging through the book he brought down while Cas stood awkwardly at his side.

“Skill and knowledge,” said Eldon.

“What use would it serve Mr. Crowley to teach you about positive things?”

“I did that leg work on my own.” Eldon glanced over at Cas and made a small smile. Cas felt bad. The entire situation was terrible. “Ah, this is what I wanted.”

“Hm?”

Cas peered over Eldon’s shoulder and looked upon the page he had open. There was a fine script in Latin alongside rough symbols. He couldn’t make a lick of sense of it but assumed Eldon understood.

“This is a fancy sort of spell that can make us invisible. We might be able to sneak out and get back to your home. If Mr. Crowley isn’t there yet, we should be able to get that demon knife from your lover and protect ourselves.”

“Why didn’t we do this before?” Cas asked. “Practically speaking, he could still be looking for Sam Winchester and we could turn invisible then execute the same plan.”

“Two things,” said Eldon, “First, if you directed Mr. Crowley into finding Sam Winchester, there’s a slight chance he might go softer on you, but if he thinks you tricked him on purpose, there is gonna be more for you to face than just death!”

“What do you mean?” Cas asked urgently.

“He _will_ find you, and he _will_ be angry. Much angrier than he is right now. I saw Mr. Crowley get tricked once and the hurt he put on that guy was beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Kept him alive for thirty years, _inside out and rolling through salt water_.”

Cas winced. “And, um, what’s the other reason?” he dared to ask.

Eldon grimaced and looked back at the book. “I’ve never _done_ this spell before and it’s high risk, so…so it has a good chance of failing. I wouldn’t take that risk unless the benefit was real, real good.”

“Ah…o…kay…”

Cas’ confidence was dropping by the second. He reconsidered the plan. “And, well, what happens if we get there successfully but Crowley has made it first?”

“Then let me take him on while you—“

_WHAM!_

The door to the study flew open and Crowley stood there. He was rather calm with his hands together, smiling weakly.

“Well, well, well,” he said, “What do we have here?”

“Mr. Crowley, I—“

Just as Eldon began to speak, Crowley raised one hand and flicked it, thus sending the man flying across the room. He slammed into a bookshelf and collapsed. Cas wasn’t sure what to do. Crowley stepped closer to him with the smirk still on his face and his hand held out towards Cas.

“Trying to slip away, darling?”

Cas was silent. His body grew stiff and he couldn’t move at all.

“You know even if you managed to escape for a little while, I _would_ find you. I always will. I always do.” He raised an eyebrow. “After all, I’m Crowley.”

The demon got right into Cas’ face and tightened his fist. Still paralyzed with fear, Cas did nothing but stare back at Crowley with wide, terrified eyes. Crowley, on the other hand, was eerily serene despite his hand being so tense. He moved it right up to Cas’ chest and growled, “ _Now come with me!_ ”

Right in that instance, there was a loud ZING!! And a blur of color whipped between them. A thin, warm hand grasped onto Cas’ wrist and seemingly pulled him right through the air. Crowley and the room zipped away like a television changing channels, with nothing but the image of a redheaded woman holding onto Cas.

“ _Anna_ ,” he tried to speak, but nothing came from his mouth. The world was all blurs and distortions moving this way and that, great prisms of color that danced in the corners of his eyes and all around an intangible world. Anna confidently strode forward. Her body had a slow shutter speed and a warped, far away voice came from her. Cas tried to focus but he couldn’t. It was as if he was trapped in an acid trip. Then, all at once, the colors faded and Cas found himself crashing against a cement floor.

“Huuuhh…”

“PAAPAAAAA!!!”

Celeste’s voice sounded like an illusion. Maybe all of that was really just a demon curse and Cas had died. Then he felt little hands on his body giving him a hug and he appeared into reality better. He was on his chest against a cold floor.

“Papa! Papa! Papa is back!!”

“Cas?!”

Now Dean’s voice came into play and Cas managed to sit up. He blinked hard and looked around—this was a new room, one he didn’t recognize at all. The walls were cement just like the floor, there were no windows and along one side sat several cots. Still delirious, Cas saw Celeste clutching to his chest and hugged her back weakly.

“My baby girl…”

“I missed you, papa!”

Cas sat up better so he could properly hug Celeste. Seeing her little mop of red hair and those curious hazel eyes told him that he _was_ alive and Celeste really _was_ there.

“Oh, Celeste…I’m sorry…”

“Sorry?”

Dean squat down beside Cas and put his arm around him. “Cas? You okay?” His voice was shaky.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Cas smiled at Dean and stared into his eyes now, still hugging Celeste. He thought he would never see Dean again so you can imagine the relief.

“How’d you get here?”

“I have no idea.”

“Where were you?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“How did you call me?”

“A phone…”

“ _Let’im rest_ ,” came Bobby’s voice. He stepped into Cas’ field of vision with his hat tipped up and his arms crossed. “You must be Cas, I imagine.”

“Yes,” said Cas. He put kiss after kiss on the top of Celeste’s forehead, holding her as if he might never let her go. “And you are?”

“Bobby Singer. I think we all have some catching up to do, eh?”

They helped Cas get up and brought him over to one of the cots. Bobby got him a glass of water and then he introduced him to Sam. Dean explained everything that happened in Cas’ absence.

“So, Sam Winchester _is_ alive,” Cas muttered.

“Yeah, I am.”

“They’re looking for you, Sam,” he said, peering up at the tall young man.

“Who is?”

“Mr. Crowley. Do you know him?”

“Crowley? Ruby’s used the name, but that’s all.”

“He’s a very dangerous demon and he’s searching for you, Celeste and the demon killing knife. Where is it, by the way?”

Dean pulled the blade from a sheath on his hip. Cas smiled but then he noticed Bobby standing aside a gravely pensive face.

“Mr. Singer?”

“Just where exactly were you, Cas?” Bobby asked.

Cas took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Celeste, who was in his lap now, tugged on his arm and repeated Bobby’s question. He looked down at his daughter and smiled sadly.

“I had been kidnapped by one of Crowley’s henchmen. I was staying at his house…I’ll spare you the ugly details…but…I found out that he’s looking for Sam.”

“Probably doing a favor for Ruby,” said Sam. “I can’t imagine why a demon other than she would want me. Honestly, I still don’t know why she wants me to begin with.”

Bobby was still deep in thought. “Who was on the phone with you?” he asked Cas.

“That was Crowley’s henchman, Eldon Styne.”

Cas went on to explain what happened with Eldon those many years ago. He told them how Eldon was going to be killed, how Crowley made him a deal, and what Eldon had to do in order to fulfill it. He also elaborated on what Eldon was going to do to help Cas and evidently the rest of them.

“I don’t want to think about what’s happened to him now,” Cas sighed bitterly.

“So how did you get _here?_ ” Dean asked this time. He had been sitting beside Cas and Celeste this whole time, his hand holding Cas’ arm for comfort but his mouth closed.

“It was Anna’s ghost. She grabbed me, somehow, and brought me here.”

“Dang it!” Bobby interrupted. “It ain’t no ghost!”

Cas looked at him. “What?”

“Angels don’t turn into ghosts! When they die, they’re _dead!_ I don’t know why you fellas gotta keep thinking Anna’s dead, she obviously ain’t!”

“But I _saw her die_ ,” Cas said weakly, a little scared of Bobby’s sudden irritation. “How do you explain that?”

Bobby let out a frustrated breath of air and put his chin in his fist. He began to walk in a slow circle. “Don’t know, son. I just don’t know. But there’s got to be a better explanation. Now I _know_ that angels can’t have ghosts. It makes no got-danged sense.”

“Hmm,” Sam mused. He stood up now and got closer to Cas. “You’ve made contact with her, right?”

“Yes.”

“And Dean, didn’t you talk to her?”

“Yeah, I did,” said Dean. This made Cas open his eyes in shock. He turned sharply to Dean.

“You spoke with her? How?!”

“She appeared in the TV and told me about Bobby.”

Cas was dumbfounded. “So…I don’t believe it…so it’s certainly not just me.”

“Nope,” said Dean. “And Celeste has seen her too, right, Celeste?”

“Yeah!” the little girl exclaimed, looking happy. “The red lady! She comes to my room at night!”

Cas looked down at Celeste and blinked. “She does?”

“Yeah! She’s nice.”

“Welp,” Bobby interrupted, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in these few years of studying the paranormal, it’s this; if the creature exists, it can be summoned.”


	14. Toil and Trouble

 

“We’re gonna give you some time alone now, all right?” Bobby proposed. Sam picked up Celeste and the three of them left Dean and Cas in the safe room. Even though the whole house was enchanted to keep demons away, the chamber in the basement was extra reinforced. As long as they didn’t know where Crowley and Ruby might be, it was best for everyone to stay in the safe room. They rotated who would stay in the house and continue research while keeping an eye and an ear open, but for now, those three would be out of it.

As soon as they left, Dean wrapped his arms around Cas as if he would never let go. “I was so worried about you,” he whispered. “I was _so_ damn worried…”

“I thought I would never see you again,” cried Cas. “It was terrible.”

“What did they do to you?”

Cas kept his eyes away from Dean’s stare. He didn’t want him to know what kind of misery he had been subjected to. Telling Dean would only make him more upset.

“It wasn’t bad,” Cas lied, “But I didn’t know where you were. They said they were going to find you and Celeste. That was the worst. I felt so powerless.”

“Guess we have Anna to thank for that.”

“Yes…but…”

“We don’t have to worry about it right now,” Dean interrupted. He began kissing Cas’ cheek over and over, his hands feeling across the man’s body. “I’m just glad you’re back and you’re okay.”

Thought Cas was beyond elated to be back with Dean, he couldn’t fight that sinking feeling that Eldon was being tortured on his account. It was a stupid guilt trip, but one he found no way out of regardless.

“Oh, _Dean,_ ” Cas cried, squeezing the man closer. All of his worries poured out into that plea of helplessness. He wished none of this had happened. He wished he had never met Anna.

“Shh.”

Dean put his thumb over Cas’ lip, held it for a moment then slipped it to the side and kissed him. Passion immediately sparked and the men were thrown into a hot frenzy. Dean pushed Cas up against the safe room’s cold wall and kissed him deeply. Both of them moaned and groaned as they succumbed to the desire they had thought neither would experience again.

“D-Dean!” Cas cried. The other man roughly unbuttoned Cas’ pants and threw them down to his ankles. His movements were shaky from a lack of time and overwhelming urge to take Cas right then and there.

“Let me fuck you,” Dean grunted between his teeth. “Step out of your pants.”

Cas barely had the chance to respond aside from taking his foot out of one pant leg. Dean immediately hoisted him up against the wall and Cas’ legs found comfort around Dean’s waist. Somehow, Cas hadn’t even noted Dean taking his cock out. He had something—some kind of lubricant concealed in his fist that worked over his erection. Cas didn’t care about the details. After the wicked sex that Eldon Styne had subjected him to, Dean could manhandle him in any way and it would be pleasurable. Besides, he was back with the man he cared so much about, how could a strong touch matter?

“Gaaah!” Cas yelped when Dean touched the tip of his wet dick to his hole. Pushing his shoulders back against the wall while still squeezing his legs around Dean’s waist, Cas made a comfortable place for him to take the erect length. “Dean!!”

Dean made a decent progress with Cas, his eyes fixed on his partner the entire time. It wasn’t easy for him to support such a muscular man, but he held Cas close and began thrusting inside.

“I missed this,” Dean groaned, his face right against Cas’. “I missed _you_.”

“Oh, Dean,” was all Cas could sigh. He tipped his head back and ground his hips in time with Dean’s thrusting. It was so good and so rough, such a pleasant change from what he had been doing in the days prior.

Sweat dripped beneath their clothes and down Cas’ rear, sticking to the cold wall behind him. Their love making grew furiously quick. Cas gripped big wads of Dean’s flannel shirt, holding onto it for dear life as he was pounded raw.

“Aaah,” Dean grunted through his teeth. His face and turned bright red and he gave a few hard, final thrusts inside Cas as his orgasm overwhelmed him. It didn’t take long for his knees to feign giving out. Cas bleated as Dean came, his own climax squirting between them.

“Oh, my God.”

“Aah, Cas…”

Dean let him stand now, but they both felt like sitting. Cas cleaned up with a towel then got completed dressed again and collapsed onto one of the cots. “We need to bring them back,” he sighed.

“Can we give it a couple minutes for the sex stank to die?”

Cas chuckled. He weakly teased at Dean’s arm, lips parted, eyes beyond delighted to be back with his lover. “All right.”

* * *

In a dark cellar, Crowley stood beside a lifeless body. It was small, thin and female with long brunette hair and a wide but pretty face. Crowley was pleased.

“I _love_ it,” a female voice said. The fog which encompassed Ruby’s rotten soul now wound around Crowley and examined the woman’s body.

“I couldn’t get one quite like the previous,” said Crowley. “But I think this one will suffice.”

“She’s gorgeous, honestly. Hmm…d’you think Sam will agree?”

A smirk grew on Crowley’s face. “If he has at least one eighth of the intelligence they’ve said he has, then yes.”

“Heheh. We’ll find out. Here I go!”

All at once, the fog concentrated and funneled down into the body on the floor. A great sucking noise sounded as this happened, but then everything fell quiet. Crowley stood there without making a single movement. This was a common sight for him.

The body’s eyes opened. She sat up slowly, looked around, then moved her arms as if she had just been born.

“Amazing,” Ruby said. “Oh. I like her voice, too.”

“Agreed,” said Crowley. The smile fell from his face. “Now, then. I’ve done more than enough favors for you and I believe some gratitude is in order.” Ruby leered at him. “A good word, perhaps?”

“The deal was that you brought me Sam Winchester, and _then_ I’d help you out with your promotion!” Ruby yelled. She got up and flexed her new muscles. Crowley laughed.

“I told you, I’ve done all I can.”

“And Eldon Styne? He has the angel child’s father, right?”

“I’m afraid he got away.”

“What?!” Ruby gasped. “Are you shitting me?! He was our only lead! What happened?!”

“Mr. Styne betrayed me. As far as I can tell, he conjured some magic under my nose and teleported Mr. Novak away.”

“Then FIND HIM!!” Ruby screamed. She balled her fists at Crowley and glared with nearly red eyes.

“Careful, darling. Don’t want to blow out your new vessel.”

Ruby was unamused at this.

“I’m serious, Crowley. I hold a high rank with the big boss and I can get you that promotion…you just have to do what I say.”

“And _what_ ,” Crowley began, a bit more angry now to match Ruby’s emotions, “Do you propose we do? Mr. Novak is off the radar. _Sam_ Winchester is further away than ever, and now we know that _Dean_ Winchester is still alive and aware of what’s happening.”

Ruby folded her arms and looked at Crowley through clever eyes. She smiled thinly. “I bet they’re in the same place.”

“Likely.”

“I bet it’s got a billion wards on it.”

“Without a doubt.”

“I bet we can trace it and crack it.”

“Do you, now?”

“Yeah, I do. And I have a couple ideas.”

* * *

“Got some news,” Bobby announced upon his return to the safe room. Sam followed suit with Celeste in his arms, happy to see her papa again. The younger Winchester handed her off to Cas with a smile.

“What did you find out?” Cas asked, bouncing Celeste in his embrace. Bobby showed them a bundle of objects and a few notes he had hastily written down. They reminded Cas of Eldon’s study.

“Here’s a spell that’s s’pposed to bring us the one that teleported you here.”

“Anna?” Dean interjected. Bobby nodded apprehensively.

“If it’s an angel,” the older man explained, now setting the various things on the ground, “Then it _might_ not work. All that angel mojo is hard to get through ta’.”

He drew lines on the cement floor with a stick of white chalk. A candle went here, a bundle of herbs went there, and in a few minutes there was a real strange sight to behold on that floor. Sam appeared to have moderate experience with this kind of rite, but Dean and Cas weren’t sure how to react.

“Now I’m just gonna light this mixture in th’ bowl,” Bobby said as he took a small cauldron to the center of the sigils, “Say a couple incantations and we should git our mystery woman.”

Sam grew somewhat nervous.

“You okay, Sammy?” Dean asked, catching onto his vibe quickly.

“I don’t remember meeting angels,” he admitted, “And Ruby always talked about how dangerous and unpredictable they are.”

“Nothin’ ta worry about,” Bobby reassured him quickly, “If it’s Anna, then Cas’n I both know her. She wouldn’t hurt nobody no how.”

“Well, okay,” Sam agreed in a stiff voice.

Bobby lit a fire inside the cauldron and began reading a few lines of Latin. Cas reached out and took Dean’s hand in silence, needing a bit of support. Even though Bobby was confident that Anna would be safe, that tiny element of mystery and suspense made _everyone_ on edge.

“ _Anima invenire per tempus et tractum!_ ” Bobby shouted.

Instantly, the cauldron turned into a tall, blue fire that hissed and roared at an amazing volume. Cas let go of Dean’s hand so he could cover Celeste’s ears. He crouched down so he could bring her into his chest for safety. Dean did the same, but he put his arms around Cas and hugged him. A great whirling wind started around the flame and expanded into the entire room. The cots began to blow and everyone had to stand firmly. Chaos was starting to ensure, but then it all died down. The flame retracted into the cauldron and the wind disappeared. Sensing it might be safe, Cas took his hands off of Celeste’s but still held her close. The room was eerily quiet now. Sam looked around with wide eyes, but Bobby cursed.

“ _Balls_! We were so close, too!”

“It didn’t work?” Cas asked.

“I don’t think so,” said Sam. “Not all the way.”

But then, a crack like lightning and a flash of red spun over into the corner. This was similar to how Cas appeared in the safe room to the people who were in it. A woman’s body was curled up next to one of the cots.

“Anna?!” Cas gasped. He hoisted Celeste up and went running.

“Wait!” Sam yelled out instinctively. “Don’t go so fast!”

The woman stood. She dusted herself off and turned around. She had red hair and a thin frame, but…

It was _not_ Anna.

She looked right at Cas, who was of course terrified now, smiled goofily and cried out, “Papa!!”


	15. Slipping

 

“It’s really you, papa! Finally!”

The young woman ran to Cas and hugged him. Cas was so disoriented that he was unable to react. “I’m so glad you managed to summon me! Oh, my God! I’ve been trying so hard!” She patted Celeste on the head and added, “Hi, little me!”

“Papa…little…are you? Can you?” Cas tried to speak.

“I’m Celeste! I’m your daughter, just older.”

“But…how?!”

She laughed. “I’m half angel. I can do all sorts of stuff, like time travel! Oh, man. I’ve been going crazy putting all of this together.”

Dean stepped in between them now, looking the older Celeste over. “So, uh, you _aren’t_ Anna?”

“Nope, she was my mom.”

Little Celeste was happy to see her older version. She reached her arms out to her and said, “Red lady!”

“Haha, I’m just you, silly! Wow. I’m so…”

“Confused,” said Cas. “How do I know you’re really my daughter?”

“Erm, hm…”

The older Celeste thought for a moment, then pulled the sleeve on her hoodie up and pointed to a mole. “See this? Big mole. Check on little me and she’ll have on just like it, too.”

Cas examined his daughter then froze, mouth open. He slowly turned back to the older Celeste but was unable to say anything. The young woman nodded enthusiastically then went in to give Cas another hug.

“Oh, papa…I barely remember you at all.”

Cas embraced her back and patted her gently. “What happened to me?”

Celeste took a step back and looked at everyone. “I guess I should get you up to speed with everything that happened. Er, happens. Would happen. I don’t even know what to call it.”

“Yeah, better,” Bobby said grouchily.

“I never really knew papa, or Dean,” said Celeste. She looked at both of the men and frowned sadly. “I know Bobby, though.”

Dean furrowed his brow. “Why? How? What happened— _happens_ to us?”

“I get the feeling this is gonna take some time,” Bobby interjected. He plopped himself down on the edge of a cot and everyone else found a seat, too, including Celeste. She wasn’t as excited anymore.

“In _my_ timeline,” she began timidly, “Papa was killed. Crowley did it and then sent that Eldon Styne guy away. After that, Dean, Bobby and I were stuck in this safe room for a long, long time. Then _Sam_ Winchester got back in touch with Ruby. I dunno how she found us, but she did. Sam betrayed us all and Ruby killed Dean.”

Cas gasped quietly and put his hand over Dean’s.

“Sam wouldn’t do that,” Dean argued. “No way.”

“He did!” Celeste yelped. “I know he did. I’ve lived it!”

“But Sam’s my brother, he wouldn’t do anything to get me killed…right?”

At that moment, everyone looked around and noticed that Sam had left the safe room. They had been so distracted by the older Celeste that nobody knew when it had happened. Dean stood up. “Sammy?”

Concerned but more interested in Celeste’s story and purpose, Cas turned to his daughter and pressed her to continue.

“Well, my papa and Dean were gone, so Bobby raised me. I never knew any of this until just a year ago, when Bobby got an inkling of Ruby on the move again.” Celeste looked at the older man and nodded. “I knew I was half angel and that I had powers, but he only recently revealed to me why my papa died.”

“I’m sorry, Celeste,” said Cas. “If there’s anything I can do to…stop my death…”

“I already have,” Celeste told him. A smile returned to her face. “I popped in at the right moment and took you away from Crowley. Time’s been altered and fate has been changed, but that doesn’t stop Ruby from doing what she has to do.”

“So what, then?” asked Cas. “What’s next?”

“I gotta find out how all of this happened. I know that my mom came to you and offered having me, but I don’t know what happened _before_ that. I’ve been following up on as many leads as possible, but…”

Celeste took a small computer from her back pocket. It was like a tablet only thinner. Cas and Dean watched in amazement as she manipulated it. A tall hologram beamed out of it and stood about ten inches above the computer. It had all sorts of line and words written in it, and Celeste knew exactly how to manipulate them.

“See?” she asked, pointed to a few lines. “I’ve been taking notes on this. I know that Ruby was involved with Anna back in the 90s, when she originally took Sam Winchester away from his family, but I don’t know _why_. And I really don’t know how I came to be in it.”

Cas cleared his throat. Celeste looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “Yeah?” she asked.

“What about Eldon Styne?”

“What about him?”

“He has some strange history, I learned. He was alive in 1880, and got involved with Crowley back then. I think he said that Crowley lied to him and convinced him to do ill for him…perhaps 1880 has something to do with all of this?”

Celeste narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, maybe…that’s good. Okay, that’s good.”

Dean had to interject here. With great passion he cried, “You’re just gonna go back to 1880 and see if you can stop this?! And what d’you think will happen if you do?! You won’t be born! I won’t—I won’t meet Cas!!”

“You don’t know that,” Celeste argued, “And even if, you both _die.”_

“But you altered fate, you just said so. We’re alive now.”

“It won’t stay that way!” Celeste shouted. Cas stepped between them. Little Celeste covered her ears.

“I’ll go with you,” he suggested. “You and I, Celeste, we will go to 1880 and check things out. We’ll only _check_ , that’s all. Then we will come back and report what we’ve found and go from there.”

“I…I dunno,” Dean hesitated. He looked at Bobby weakly. “What do you think?”

“There’s plan’s as good as anything I could think of,” the man replied. “Besides, we gotta find Sam.”

“He’s upstairs I bet,” said Dean.

“Here, Dean. Take little Celeste. Watch out for her while we’re gone.”

Weakly, Dean took the toddler from Cas, exchanged a kiss and went upstairs with Bobby. Now alone with his daughter from the future, he touched a hand to his chin and stared down. “How does this work?”

Celeste got on the ground and began drawing something with a piece of chalk she must have had. She worked quickly, putting lines and odd sigils all over the place. It wasn’t much different from the patter Bobby had made to summon her originally.

“Stand inside,” she said, getting to her feet. Cas stepped onto the sigil and Celeste took his hands. “Close your eyes and don’t let go. It won’t hurt. I’ve been doing this a million times. Just let me lead.”

“I trust you,” said Cas. He did as he was told and held his daughter’s hands tightly. A rush of cool shot through his body and they were both gone.

Dean and Bobby, however, went upstairs and found that Sam was nowhere in the house.

“SAMMY!!!” Dean called out, holding little Celeste close. “Damn! Where the hell is he?”

“No time to ask, Dean. Gotta keep lookin’.”

Bobby was putting his shoes on. “Wait,” said Dean. “We aren’t leaving the safe house, are we?”

“Wherever that boy’s gone off to, it can’t be good. He wouldn’t leave at a time like this for groceries or nothin’. Gotta take the risk.”

* * *

Sam was already over a mile from the house. He had wandered into the surrounding woods when he heard a sweet song that he hadn’t heard in many years. It was barely audible in the back of his head, but he followed it regardless, as if in a trance. In the middle of the forest, he paused and looked around. The singing had faded.

“Oh, there you are.”

An unfamiliar voice spoke to him and he looked around sharply. Some leaves rustled but in the darkness of night, he couldn’t see a thing.

“It’s okay, it’s just me.”

Again, he couldn’t place the speaker. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to get a better idea, but then a hand touched his arm and he jumped. Behind him stood a thin young woman who he had never seen before.

“Who are you?” Sam gasped.

“Ah, right. The new body.”

Sam looked the woman over as best as he could in the dark. A flicker in her eyes and he furrowed his brow. “Ruby?”

“Good boy,” Ruby smirked. “So how do you like it?”

Swallowing stiffly, Sam stammered, “L-like what?”

“The new body, silly.”

Ruby turned around slowly, keeping her eyes on Sam like a piece of meat. She flaunted the thin figure with raven hair. “I know you like petite women…what do you think?”

Sam’s heart was pounding. He knew this was wrong.

“ _No_ ,” he insisted and took a step back. “You killed my parents. And, and you hurt my brother. You’re evil and I’ll have nothing to do with you.”

“Aw, but…Sam…”

Ruby pursued the young man with a sad face. She folded her arms and looked down. “Evil is a relative term,” she explained pitifully. “My kind thinks that your little friends are evil. So who really is?”

Sam winced. “My brother’s no idiot.”

“Ugh. You barely _know_ your brother. I’m your real family!”

“You killed my real family!”

“They would have died anyway!” Ruby roared. This made Sam pause.

“What?”

“Crowley, you know. This idiot I’ve been working with. He gave me the Winchester name back in the day because they were already on a hit list.”

“You’re…you’re lying.”

“Have I ever lied to you?” Sam didn’t answer. “Oh, Sam…don’t you remember the times we spent together? You’ve lived with me longer than anybody else. Didn’t I take good care of you?”

“Well, kind of…”

Ruby slowly put her hands onto Sam’s chest. “Didn’t I keep you happy? Comfortable? Well-fed? _Satisfied?_ ”

Sam swallowed a tight lump in his throat. He wet his lips and gazed down at Ruby. “Y-yeah.”

“You wouldn’t give all that up just for some brother you barely know, would you? Think about it…that’s stupid. I’ve been your real family.”

“I guess…”

Ruby smiled. “That’s it. That’s a good boy. Come home to mama.”

Sam grabbed Ruby up in his arms and kissed her deeply, missing the sensation. Ruby’s body melted against his and growled. “I missed you!” she moaned.

“I missed you too, Ruby,” Sam whispered between passionate kisses. He backed her up against a tree and they pressed together hotly.

“Take me like you did before,” Ruby cried, scratching into Sam’s shoulders. “Be my Sam again!”


	16. The Truth

* * *

_June 11 th, 1880_

_Somewhere in Kentucky_

* * *

 

WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Cas went slamming down onto a hot, sandy ground face first and head spinning. It all happened so quickly that he completely forgot where he had started and why he was there.

“Unnh…Celeste?”

His daughter had incidentally felt a similar pain, but while Cas managed to get to his feet, Celeste remained on the ground and in pain.

“Celeste?!”

Cas ran to her side and put his arms around her. She twitched, groaned, and turned to look up at him. “I’m—fine, promise.”

“What’s wrong? Did you fall too hard?”

“No, not that.” Celeste grunted and used her father as a support to stand. She dusted herself off then shielded her eyes from the bright sun. “Remember that I’m _already_ bending time to come back and see you. It’s getting hard to keep doing it and doing it…I shouldn’t try a whole lot more.”

Cas’ face fell. “Then we have to act right now, don’t we?”

“It would be ideal,” Celeste said with a goofy, tired grin. She began to look around, and so did Cas. He had been so preoccupied with Celeste’s health that he failed to notice they were smackdab in the middle of a small town. Surrounding the village was desert as far as the eye could see.

“We’re going to stand out like sore thumbs in these futuristic clothes,” Cas said with a sad hum, but Celeste didn’t care. She put her index finger to her forehead and closed her eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to find any angels,” she explained, walking forward now. Cas hesitated.

“Umm—Celeste—are you _sure_ it’s wise to be seen looking like this?”

“I really don’t care! We have to get business done, papa.”

“Aah…”

Reluctantly, Cas put his faith in Celeste and followed her. She trudged around through little sandy alleyways and did a fairly good job avoiding any contact with residents. It would seem that the town was mostly dead.

“I feel something, maybe…”

They neared a short building that had the word SALOON painted along the top. A great many people were gathered outside and it looked like a big event had just occurred. Cas buckled.

“What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know,” said Celeste, “But let’s find out. I feel celestial activity nearby.”

“Looking like this?!”

Celeste tore off and once again ignored her father’s comment. They walked right into the crowd of southerners, obviously drawing way more attention than would be ideal. Cas hunched over and did his best to hide himself from onlookers, but he also managed to get snippets of conversations.

“What happened?”

“Two dames were fighting.”

“Where’d the piano fella go?”

“Sounds like black magic to me!”

“Gone? Just _gone?_ ”

Celeste pulled Cas into the saloon and they stopped at the sight before them. Tables were thrown, windows were shattered. There had been a major fight, and according to the people who witnessed it, the rumble was unlike anything they had ever seen.

“Now wait just a second!” A burly older man called out as Celeste went straight to the rubble. “What sorta weirdo might you be? You stay away from all a’that!”

“Stop that!” Celeste called back at him. “I know what I’m doing.”

She squat down by what appeared to be burn marks on the shoddy wood floor. She held her breath and looked around. Cas came close, too, though he was self-conscious about the people watching and hollering at them.

“Anything?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Celeste said quietly and made a small nod. “There were two angels and a demon. This is the site of the event that started it all, I bet. But—hm…I think…”

Without saying anything else, Celeste got up again and walked around, looking with wide eyes. She moved a few pieces of charred furniture, poked around behind the bar and even sniffed a couple surfaces. Cas wondered if his daughter was weird because she was half angel, or if she grew odd based on her rattled upbringing. Perhaps she was naturally “interesting.”

“Get outta there!” Called the large man from before. Nobody dared walk into the beaten saloon, but he stood in the threshold and gestured wickedly to Celeste. “It ain’t safe! Lord knows what’s gone on in there!”

All of the sudden, there was a great, blinding flash of light in the center of the room. The crowd gasped and backed out into the street more, Cas covered his eyes but Celeste stared right at it. A tiny sine wave rang out into the room, but it settled as the light did. A man appeared. He was short, with smooth hair and a beaky nose. His arms were folded at his side and he smirked at Celeste.

“Well, well, well,” he mused, “What’s this? Half angel? Half angel from…what, 150 years from now, give or a take a few?”

Celeste nodded stiffly. “And you,” she began, “You’re an angel, no doubt.”

“Sure am. They call me Gabriel.”

Cas, who was standing in silence off to the side, slowly lowered his hands from his face and stared at the angel. His mouth hung open. Gabriel turned to him and tipped his chin. “What’s his problem? Never seen an angel before?”

Cas shook his head. “I have,” he started weakly, “I know some quite well. But, um, I’ve never met a _famous_ one.”

Gabriel laughed. “Oh, yeah. That. Hey, wait! What angel do you know?”

“Anna…”

“Aaah,” the angel said, nodding slowly. The smile refused to leave his face. “I get what’s going on.”

“Please,” Celeste interrupted, “We need help. A lot! I need to stop Anna from having me.”

“Tut tut,” Gabriel said. He began to walk now, arms folded. “So Anna won the bet, eh?”

“What bet?” asked Cas.

“She didn’t tell you?”

“No. What are you talking about?”

Cas felt a nerve in his forehead twitch and the smirk on Gabriel’s face didn’t help. Celeste cleared her throat.

“This man is my dad, and Anna is my mom. After they had me, this demon called Ruby started killing people. She kidnapped a boy from—ugh, it’s so complicated. But basically I want to stop all of this from happening.”

“Not gonna happen, sweetcheeks,” said Gabriel.

“Why not!”

“I’ll tell you how it all went down. Ready? Heheh, okay…Anna and Ruby have been lockin’ horns for the last several hundred years. Don’t ask me why. One says she’s better, the other says she is, blah blah blah you know how ladies are.” Gabriel winked at Cas. “I said enough is enough and made a deal for them; they get 125 years to one up each other in being _good_ to humanity, and the winner gets to have a baby.”

Cas gasped. He felt his whole body shake. “It was a **_bet_**?”

“I’m guessing she didn’t mention that. Wow.”

“No! I had no idea! Aah!”

While Cas held his face in his hands and did his best to comprehend this major news, Celeste was clearly less bothered. She was visibly tired, though.

“Stop the bet,” she groaned. “Break it off. It’ll save lives.”

“Sorry, can’t do it.”

“Why not?!”

“I don’t break deals! It’s un-angelic.”

“Arrgh!”

Celeste growled at him and tensed her fists, but she was soon bent over by overwhelming pain inside her. Cas ran to her side.

“Celeste? What’s wrong?”

“Uggh…too hard…this is way too hard!”

Gabriel stood by with a frown at long last. “Too much time traveling?”

“Uh huh…”

“Sounds to me that you have to do it just one more time.” Cas looked up at him as if for a better explanation. “The only way you’ll stop the bet is if you kill one of them before it happens. Get here an hour earlier…I doubt you’d wanna off Anna, but I’m sure you can think of a way to kill Ruby. Problem solved, right?”

Cas didn’t get a chance to answer. Gabriel snapped his fingers and everything in the bar fixed itself in an instant. He sent a rippled into the air that soared through the bar and outside, where it touched the onlookers. They walked right back inside as if nothing had happened. The ripple must have cleared their memories.

“Celeste, we need to return!” Cas whispered. “One more time!”

* * *

“SAAAAAAAAM!! SAAAAMM-MYYY!!”

Dean had been out in the forest surrounding the safe house for almost two hours, calling and calling for his brother but only crickets and stars answered. He left Bobby back inside to watch over little Celeste, hoping that he would return with good news. Unfortunately, if he tried to track his brother all night, he wouldn’t even get halfway through the woods.

“Nothing,” Dean sighed as stepped through the threshold. He took Celeste from Bobby and smiled at her sadly. “You got any idea where Sam went off to?” Celeste shook her head. “And I guess your papa hasn’t come back yet.”

“No papa…”

“What do you think, Bobby? Please tell me you have a lead or something.”

“Sorry, Dean. The best idea I’ve got is that Ruby’s found him. But how could she track us out here? Don’t make no sense.”

Dean sat down on the sofa and kept Celeste in his lap, jogging his knee to bounce her. “I don’t understand all of this crap enough to know,” he said. “Maybe when big Celeste brought Cas here, they left a fingerprint or something.”

“But th’house is safe guarded. If that were even possible—which I don’t think it is—the protective charms would’ve stopped ‘em.”

Dean sighed. “I don’t like Ruby.”

Bobby came over to Dean now and joined him on the sofa. Beneath his beat up baseball cap, Dean saw a pair of sad eyes gazing down towards the floor. “You shouldn’t,” the older man mumbled. “Offed yer family and done corrupted Sam.”

“When you say corrupted…what exactly do you mean?”

Bobby took a slow, deep breath and turned to Dean. There was a great hesitation in every movement of his body, but he proceeded anyway. “I didn’t ever wanna tell you this,” he began. Dean listened intently, doing his best to keep Celeste quiet. “’member how I said living with the demon warped his brain?”

“Vaguely.”

“Well, it did. Big time. He tries hard and he is honest to God a decent fella, but he spent too much time with her…”

“I don’t understand. How did she affect him?”

Bobby grunted. “Got kind of a sick mother-lover complex.”

This made Dean’s upper lip twitch. He didn’t want to think about it any further, although his mind forced him to. The worst part was how this was his own brother. He kept thinking what he might have done years ago to change this outcome, and better yet—what he could do now.

“ **Knock, knock!”**

A loud, female voice called from the front door.

“Who is that?” Dean asked Bobby sharply.

“Don’t know…”

“I said KNOCK KNOCK!!”

Suddenly, the front door blew apart and in walked Ruby’s latest body.

“Who the hell are you!” Bobby shouted, standing immediately. Assuming she was human, he went for a shotgun. She laughed.

“That won’t do any good.”

As the dust from the door exploding settled, Sam followed in behind her. Bobby lowered the gun and now Dean stood up, clutching Celeste close.

“Sam?” Bobby asked, unable to form a clear expression. “Then…this can’t be…”

“Ruby,” the woman clarified. She took a few steps towards Bobby with her hands on her hips, glaring at him. “I can’t believe the shit you’ve put my Sam through!”

Dean growled. “Your Sam? You don’t own him!”

With another dry laugh, Ruby looked back at Sam and addressed Dean. “I don’t? Are you sure about that? Sam, come.”

The tall man followed close behind Ruby now, avoiding all eye contact with his brother. Dean couldn’t believe it.

“Sammy, what the fuck?! What are you doing?!” (“D, don’t say bad words,” Celeste muttered.)

“I um…well…”

Ruby threw her arms around Sam and squeezed him. “He’s doing what he should have done a long time ago!”

“But how did you get through the safeguard?!” Bobby hissed. “This was s’pposed to be impossible!”

“Heheh…anything is possible if you try. Isn’t that right, Sam?” Sam nodded weakly. “C’mon, my precious little Sam. Show them how tightly you are wrapped around my finger.”

Ruby gestured towards Bobby, and suddenly the gun went flying from his hands and into Ruby’s. Dean was unable to move. This was happening too quickly. The demon woman placed the shotgun into Sam’s hands and, pointing to Bobby, said “Kill for me.”

With an obviously pained look on his face, Sam held up the gun and fired straight at the older man.

“STOP!” Dean shouted, but it was too late. The best he could do was cover Celeste’s eyes so that she didn’t see him dying. “SAM! WHY!”

Ruby was pleased with herself. “Keep ahold of that gun, Sam,” she said, turning to Dean now.

“No way!” Dean yelled. “Not me, not the girl!”

“Luck’s on my side, Deano,” she said with a smirk. “Sam?”

“NO!” Dean shouted. “There’s a way out of this! I know it. Sam! Sammy, you’re my brother! I know you’re in there! We were getting along perfectly just a few hours ago! What happened to you?”

“You really don’t understand, do you?” asked Ruby. She signaled dismissively to Sam, who lowered the gun, then she came to Dean’s side and looked at him intently. “The kiss of the demon, Dean. It has an intoxicating effect on humans.”

“Why?”

“I don’t make the rules. But think about it—if one _kiss_ can corrupt a man, imagine how much years of hot sex can corrupt him.”

“Sick.”

“Now, if you comply and let us do what we have to, everything will be much smoother and painless.”

Glaring at Ruby, Dean kept Celeste to his chest and growled, “What do you _have to do_?”

“Kill everyone that Anna dealt with, duh.”

“Why?”

“Because that bitch is my rival!”

“That’s all this is over?”

Ruby hissed at Dean, her eyes turning solid black for a moment. “Hundreds of years my rival!”

“Isn’t there a more—uh—diplomatic approach to all this? There’s no way we all have to die. No way.”

“Sorry. Being nice won’t win this time. Sam?”

Sam held the gun up at Dean once more. He looked terribly sad with his finger on the trigger.

“You don’t have to, Sam. There’s another way.”

WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Just then, Charlie and Cas came crashing through. The piled onto Sam, knocking him over and causing the gun to fire up at the ceiling. Cas immediately shouted and went scrambling for Dean and Celeste, but older Celeste had crumbled into a pile beneath the coffee table.

“NO TIME!” Cas shouted, grabbing Dean by the arm. It was unclear to Dean if he chose to ignore Sam and Ruby, or was in such a panic that he didn’t notice them. He pulled Dean and his toddler to the coffee table, where he then held older Celeste by the wrist. It was quite limp. “Celeste, now!”


	17. End of the First Dance

“This is your only chance…I’m sending you back to right before the deal was made…”

Dean and Cas found themselves in a strange vortex between the worlds. It felt like being submerged in a warm pool, but wasn’t wet. The older Celeste was floating before them holding her younger self.

“I don’t have enough energy to manipulate time anymore…and my timeline has been changed, so…”

“But wait,” Cas interrupted. His voice echoed oddly in the unimaginably large space. “If…if we go back and change fate, what happens to you? You were the fruit of their deal.”

Celeste smiled at Cas and reached out to touch his hand. “I’ll be born, but during a different time to different parents. Anna might still be my mom, but…”

Cas frowned. “I won’t have a daughter?”

“Not me.”

“But I love you.”

Celeste smiled. “I love you, too.”

“And, and the little one?”

Cas looked at the toddler in Celeste’s arms. She was asleep or unconscious or something.

“She’s going to stay here until the timelines are fixed,” said Celeste.

Dean, who had remained floating quietly, jumped into the conversation now, but not before taking Cas by the other hand. “Where exactly are we?” Dean asked.

“The etherworld,” said Celeste. “This is where we go when we die and before we’re born. Souls sit and wait for their time. It’s also the channel we use to time travel.”

Cas was deep in thought. He squeezed Dean’s hand then turned to him, still talking to Celeste. “If we change fate…what happens to me and Dean?”

“I don’t know,” Celeste admitted sadly. “I have no idea what happens if you change fate, only what _doesn’t_ happen. Now hurry, time is running out. You need to go back there and _kill Ruby_. Only Ruby, but make sure she is dead! You’ll know that you’ve been successful because time will suddenly alter and you’ll be sent back to the future—your present—but a different present, and you won’t remember any of this.”

Cas whimpered softly.

“Papa, please…”

“I know. I know it’s the correct thing to do, but…I don’t want to lose my daughter and I don’t want to lose the most amazing man I’ve ever met.”

Dean smiled regardless of what Cas said. He took Cas’ face in one hand and floated over to kiss him. “Bet we’ll meet again,” he whispered.

“Do you really think so?”

Dean shrugged. “Fair chance, right?”

This made Cas feel even worse. Dean hugged him. “C’mon, I don’t wanna do this either, but it means my family lives.”

Nodding into the embrace, Cas gave Dean a squeeze and agreed. “It’s true. We will save your family, Bobby, Anna, the other Winchesters that Ruby murdered, and also Eldon Styne’s soul. It is for the best.”

“Then GO!” Celeste shouted. It wasn’t angry, just loud. She sent a wave of power over their bodies and they were immediately sucked out of the etherworld.

* * *

 

_June 11 th, 1880_

_Somewhere in Kentucky_

* * *

 

“Ugggh!”

Dean went crashing down onto the hot ground. It felt like he had been startled awake from the most beautiful, glorious sleep of his life. When he saw a crumpled up, miserable looking Cas, the feeling was clearly mutual. But Cas got up, familiar with this town already, and helped Dean stand.

“We have to act quickly,” he said.

Dean was still frazzled but he followed regardless. Cas led them right back to the saloon, only since they were earlier, the crowd looked considerably different. People were hanging out casually, smoking cigarettes on the porch and chatting about this and that. When they saw Cas and Dean in their futuristic clothes, everything stopped. Fate was already partially changed!

“Uh, Cas?”

“Don’t worry about it. You have the demon killing knife, right?”

Dean checked the inside of his jacket. “Yeah…I guess it made it with me, huh?”

“Yes. Give it to me please.”

“Sure?”

“Indeed.”

They entered the saloon and two voices were the only ones heard in the entire building.

“Pretending to be a whore, now?”

“Yes, but only pretending.”

“You remember the last time I saw you?”

“Of course I do, _Ruby_.”

Cas nodded to Dean. They began cutting through the curious crowd, causing quite the uproar as they did so.

“Who the hell’re you?” one man asked.

“What’s this?” huffed another. But Ruby and Anna weren’t bothered.

Cas held the knife securely in his hand as he wound through the onlookers. Some noticed that he had a weapon. Tension was growing. Cas eyed Dean, hidden behind several dirty looking men, and smiled reassuringly.

All at once, he jumped out behind Ruby and shoved the knife straight into her back.

“WAAAAAAAAAH!!” The demon cried, her skin burning to a crisp as veins of fire licked throughout. The sound was terrible but the smell was even worse.

In immediate response, Anna held her palm open and all the people in the room collapsed, except for Dean, Cas and the man at the piano.

“Who are you?” asked Anna. Her voice was just as Cas remembered it.

“Ahh,” Cas sighed, dusting off the knife. “I…Anna…we…”

“You are from a different time, aren’t you?” the angel asked.

“We are.”

Dean stumbled over to the great mess and dusted himself off. The smell of the entire settlement was getting to him.

“Then an angel must have sent you,” said Anna. Cas chuckled.

“You, in a manner of speaking.”

“ _Me?”_ asked Anna. She looked quite astonished. “Then…then this must have been for the best!”

“It is,” Dean said now. He walked up to Anna’s side and touched her arm. The angel felt warm and inviting. “We just did…a lot. You wouldn’t believe what we’ve been through. And we sorta saved your life.”

“Then I am indebted to you.”

“No!” Cas yelped. “Please, no. Go about your life in the way you want to. Don’t involve us.”

Suddenly, the room began to glow. The floor shook. Cas and Dean’s bodies both hovered into the air slightly and they also glowed a bright white.

“You have certainly altered fate!” Anna shouted, looking at them. “I hope you are happy with your new time! I will erase the memory of all these people!”

The world started blurring out of control, but Dean and Cas could still see each other. Amid the chaotic changing and whirling, Dean managed to reach out and grab Cas’ hand. “I don’t wanna go to the new timeline!” Dean yelled, tears bubbling and floating away into the void.

“I don’t either!” Cas cried out. He squeezed Dean’s fingers with dear life. “I—I love you, Dean!”

“I love you too, Cas!” Dean screamed. The pull of time was too much, and they were starting to lose their grip.

“I won’t forget you!” Cas cried wildly as he lost Dean’s touch. “I won’t forget! I won’t forget! _I won’t forget!_ ”f

In the great blur of it all, Cas saw the piano man winking at him behind his phony mustache.

* * *

October 4th, 2009

_Just outside of Charleston, West Virginia  
_

* * *

 

CNovak837: I’m sorry, this just isn’t something I normally do.

Kevinsolo: It’s okay!

CNovak837: Thank you. How old are you again?

Kevinsolo: 23

CNovak837: Does it bother you that I’m ten years older than you?

Kevinsolo: Nope. I actually kinda like it!

CNovak837: I can’t say I “like it”, but I’m open to something different.

Kevinsolo: You top, right?

CNovak837: Oh

CNovak837: No, I’m a bottom.

Kevinsolo: Oops! Gosh, I’m sorry.

CNovak837: You are a bottom too, I’m guessing?

Kevinsolo: Yeah, sorry, sorry! x_x I assumed. My fault.

CNovak837: Don’t worry about it. Thank you, though.

Kevinsolo: GL!

 

“Ugh…”

Cas closed the chat window and sighed heavily. What was he getting himself into, answering online personal ads? That was stupid. He knew better.

Then again, what other choice did he have? You can’t exactly go out and find another man to hook up with that easily. He could go to a gay bar, maybe, but…

“I absolutely won’t meet men in a bar.”

Another sigh and he got up from his desk. He pulled the knot out of his tie and hung it on a hanger in his closet. The day was coming to a close and it was time to move on from silly “physical pursuits.” What a sad life. He was so alone, and had been that way for _years_.

Before going to bed, Cas went downstairs to have a glass of milk. He passed the spare bedroom, made up perfectly in case anybody ever decided to visit (as if). No crib, no toys, no sign of a child anywhere.

After his drink, Cas made it back to his room and crawled into bed. He closed his eyes for the night. Issues from work still spun around in his head. A few profiles he had gazed at online were hanging around, too, but he didn’t want to bother. He turned onto his back and sighed. What a sad life. Another deep breath and he muttered, “I’l l figure something out…I won’t forget.”

His eyes opened wide.

“I won’t forget… _I won’t forget?!”_

 

**To be continued.**


End file.
